Patient Stories
David Lockwood
You just found out you need a new heart in order to live. What is your first thought? For David Lockwood, there were no negative thoughts, no moments
of doubt, no brooding over impending death.
“If I needed a heart transplant, that’s what I was going to do,” said Lockwood.
“I never had one negative thought about it. I never dreamed it would fail.
I never dreamed I wouldn’t have a better life because of it.”
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David Lockwood,
Heart Transplant Recipient
Linda Jozefowicz
“It would be difficult to establish a date or event for the deterioration of my respiratory system; however, I have no doubt in my mind that the primary cause of the deterioration was smoking. There is some history in my family of emphysema and I was exposed to a dusty environment when I was a technician in feed and flourmill, but still, the cigarettes are the main culprits. I was not a heavy smoker; one pack a day was my max. Still, it was enough to ruin my health.”
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Michael McMillian
In 2000, McMillian was diagnosed with black lung, a disease caused by the inhalation of coal dust. The effects of the disease were devastating.
“I couldn’t do anything,” said McMillian. “I was on oxygen. I could only walk
about 20 feet.”
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Michael McMillian,
Lung Transplant Recipient
Jerry Milam
Nearly every day since the letter arrived in March, Jerry Milam’s wife has shared its three short paragraphs with her friends at church and family members.
The letter was written by the sister of the man whose heart beats in Jerry’s chest. Milam, 49, received the heart in a five-hour transplant operation on Thanksgiving Day 2002.
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Roberta Prater
Roberta Prater’s brother overcame his fear of needles when he learned his sister's health was declining and her only hope was a kidney transplant.
"I was shocked that Arnold would do this," said Roberta Prater of her brother, Arnold Howell. "He is scared to death of needles. Even when his children went to the health department for shots, he stayed in the car. This amazed me."
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 Nancy Watts
Nancy Watts was told she had only 10 days to live if she chose not to undergo kidney dialysis. Watts asked her family to research dialysis before she agreed. She wasn't sure she wanted to live that way.
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Nancy Watts,
Kidney Transplant Recipient
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