This weekend, Dec. 13 to be exact, Ralph Moody of Convis Township will celebrate the 25th anniversary his heart transplant surgery that gave him the heart from a donor who was just 29 years old.
Although heart transplants are not as rare as they were three and four decades ago, Ralph’s longevity with his new heart is something of a medical marvel.
Earlier this year, it was reported that an 83-year-old North Dakota man may be one of the longest-surviving heart transplant patients today, having received his heart 29 years ago.
Ralph, 87, said even though he has slowed down a bit, he still feels good and maintains a certain level of physical activity, mowing his lawn, tinkering on his old cars and navigating his property on his new Polaris off-road vehicle.
Just over 25 years ago in 1995, at age 62, Ralph was in ill health, having suffered two heart attacks.
“I had no energy at all,” remembered Ralph. “I was just dying.”
Ralph’s wife of 63 years, Virginia, remembered how Ralph’s health declined sharply over that summer after a trip to Europe.
“We had been to Luxemburg that summer and he was doing really well,” said Virginia, in 2009. “If you’d seen him then, you’d have thought I had two choices: I’d have to call an undertaker or find out what was going on with him.”
The couple soon visited the Cleveland Clinic.
“We went not with the idea of getting a transplant because that as the furthest thing from our minds,” said Virginia.
After it was determined he would be a candidate for a heart transplant, that October, Ralph received a HeartMate pump that would do most of the heart’s work in pumping blood through his body as his heart was functioning at just 5%.
“It was Friday the 13th when Ralph was to get the HeartMate and one of the doctors put his arm around me and asked if I was superstitious,” said Virginia.
For the next two months, the Moodys lived on the grounds of the Cleveland Clinic and then one night, they learned a heart had become available.
“It had to be one of the worst nights in Cleveland – snow, sleet, you name it,” said Ralph.
The couple had been out to dinner and when they had returned back to their room, there was a note on the door, asking them to call his doctor.
Moments later, the coordinator walked into their room and said, “come on, we’ve got a heart.”
Ralph was prepped for surgery a couple hours later at 10:30 p.m. and the heart arrived soon after.
At 3:30 a.m., Virginia got the call that Ralph’s surgery went as planned with no complications.
“As far as I’m concerned, I never hurt a bit,” said Ralph. “That was a simple operation as far as I was concerned.”
Eight days later, Ralph and Virginia were back home but had to make weekly trips to Cleveland for the first month to make sure the Ralph’s body wasn’t rejecting the heart.
Following the heart transplant and having received a new lease on life, Ralph became involved in advocating for people to become organ donors and also competed 10 times around the world in the Transplant Games, an athletic event open to transplant recipients.
Ralph first found out about the Transplant Games after attending a support group in Kalamazoo and took part in his first competition in 1998 in Ohio. During that event, he and Virginia met actor Larry Hagman, who received a liver transplant in July 1995.
The Transplant Games are held in the United States during even-numbered years and held internationally in odd-numbered years.
In 2007, he traveled to compete in Thailand. In 2006 in Louisville, Ralph brough home a silver medal in the softball throw.
In 2008, he earned three silver medals competing in the softball throw, shot put and bowling.
In 2009, he competed in Australia.
Ralph’s new heart gave the Moodys a new opportunity to travel and remain active.
“We’ve been very blessed,” said Virginia. “Live for today; tomorrow will take care of itself.”
For years following his heart transplant, Ralph would speak with hundreds of people at Secretary of State offices asking them to become organ donors.
“He really would pound the pavement and talk to people about becoming an organ donor,” said Melissa Moody, Ralph and Virginia’s daughter, who cares for her parents in their home.
Melissa said she remembers the day all too well when her mother took her father to the Cleveland Clinic.
“I’ll never forget the day I waved goodbye to my dad as my mom took him to Cleveland,” said Melissa. “That was a really sad day for me because I wasn’t sure if he was coming home.”
Virginia has said many times that she was very grateful to those donors and their families.
“We’re very blessed when you consider what modern medicine has been able to do,” said Virginia. “Donor recipients today have a better quality of life. They’re out playing golf, walking, riding their bicycles…But if it weren’t for the donor families, these people would not be here. We have to honor those people as well.”
Virginia said Ralph getting a new heart was like winning the lottery.
“You can’t win a better lottery,” she said.
Melissa said her mother will have some good days and some bad days and added that her father is “slowing down a little, but he’s still good.”
Ralph again stressed the importance of one becoming an organ donor to help someone who was in a similar situation as he was a quarter century ago.
He added that he was able to do so much since thanks to his transplant and he plans to keep as busy as he can.
“I’m hanging in there,” said Ralph. “I’m still going.”