Gift of Life Paves Way to Open Road
by Tim Jones (Heart Recipient)
When I was a teenager in the late 60s, I was a devoted fan of a TV series about a drifter that rode his motorcycle cross country, working and helping people throughout his travels. This was a strong calling for me. The series was called “Then Came Bronson.” I have had some sort of motorized two-wheel machine since I was 11 or 12 years old. The dream to be like Bronson and travel the U.S. on my motorcycle was intense. My high school buddies gave me the nickname Bronson – it even made our yearbook.
Life went on, still dreaming, motorcycling, graduating from college, becoming gainfully employed, getting married and having a son, and ultimately, getting divorced. In 1983, I married my wife, Karen, and later started my own heating and cooling business. The first year, the excitement of it all kept me going strong – long hours, heavy lifting, lots of paper work – but always smiling. That started to change in the following years.
During a weekend trip to visit Karen’s family in 2001, I struggled to sleep. I couldn’t take a deep breath without hearing the fluid in my lungs. Karen noticed it too. Typical male stubbornness, stupidity or denial, but I never once thought I was having heart problems. But, to my surprise, my heart problems were larger than I could have imagined. Several tests and weeks spent at OSU Medical Center later, we received the news – I would need a heart transplant in the future to survive. My doctor made changes to my medications and diet, hoping to prolong the need for transplant.
Over the next couple of years, my visits to OSU were affectionately referred to as “tune ups.” Those short hospital stays turned into longer ones, becoming more frequent. In 2003, despite the several heart surgeries to prolong the inevitable, I was listed for a heart transplant during the summer. I remember a social worker asking me during the pre-tests for transplant if I was afraid of my death. My answer was “no,” and through my tears, I said I was afraid of not being with the people I love. The hopes and reality that I have been blessed with all my life – never sick with colds or the flu, and wonderful parents and a great family. I enjoyed my life. I was never out of work. I was also blessed with my faith that kept me from worrying and I knew I was in God’s master plan.
In the fall of 2003, I was so weak that I dropped my motorcycle a couple times. Finally, I had to put it away. We did put the bike on a truck and drove it to Honda Hoot in Tennessee, just keeping it polished and sitting in it, but still doing my best to participate in the activities I loved. Honda Hoot turned out to be one week before the transplant that turned my life around.
July 2, 2004, my heart and Gift of Life came from a beautiful, caring, unselfish lady named Patty. Without her gift, I would not be golfing, watching the Buckeyes, volunteering for Lifeline of Ohio, meeting so many wonderful people at my school talks and health fairs, participating in the U.S. Transplant Games (loosely speaking!) and most importantly, keeping Patty’s name alive, in honor of her generous act of heroism. Patty saved four lives that day.
The most amazing thing is that “Bronson” is back! In the last two years, Karen and I have traveled nearly 25,000 miles on our motorcycle, seeing parts of the country I only imagined I would see one day. In the summer of 2006, we traveled through 10 states – 5,400 miles – where a bull buffalo chased us from 10 feet away, and around each turn, experienced the breathtaking beauty of our country. I traveled with the thoughts and prayers that I was able to enjoy it all because of my hero, Patty.
Patty’s gift has also brought an unexpected motorcycle buddy – and friend – into our lives. Patty’s brother, Bob, connected the dots from letters I had written and a newspaper article and contacted me about a year after the transplant. The first time we connected, we talked for two hours. When we met for the first time about six weeks later, Bob and I and our wives sat in a restaurant for four and a half hours, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying. I said that I felt so guilty, sitting there when Patty wasn’t. Bob said something that has stuck with me – it just as easily could have been the other way around. My wife and I were so grateful, and we all marveled over the similarities Patty and I share.
While Bob and I both ride motorcycles with our wives, Patty had a convertible to feel the wind on her face. Bob and his wife Sandra and Karen and I have taken motorcycle trips together and Bob and I have traveled to the Bike Week in Daytona in 2006.
After the transplant, I prayed God would give my donor’s family a hug for me in the year following my transplant. Since then, I’ve been able to give them quite a few myself.My doctor cringed when I talk about riding, but then said that the medical team’s objective was to give me back my quality of life, and riding obviously contributes to that.
It does, and I’m so grateful to Patty for that (among so many other things), and grateful my wife and I can to share that love for the wind in our faces with Bob and Sandra.
Editor’s Note: Tim Jones was named the 2006 Lifeline of Ohio Volunteer of the Year for his dedication and service to the mission. Tim contributed more than 100 hours at school and community presentations, BMV visits, health fairs and many other projects. Thank you and congratulations, Tim!
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