If you should happen to see Lemuel Bradshaw roaming the halls of Austin Community College's Rio Grande campus, you may not notice anything particularly special about him - and that's just the way he likes it.
As the recipient of a heart transplant, Bradshaw, 34, is in fact a very special man - one who owes his life to the miracles of modern medicine and the kindness of strangers. To him, however, blending in with the crowd is a sign of success.
"I never wanted it to be said, 'Oh, there's the heart transplant guy; he's kind of weak,'" Bradshaw said. "I never wanted to be thought of as the guy that's too weak for anything….The best compliment you can give a recipient is, 'You don't look like you had a heart transplant.'"
Prior to April of 1998, Bradshaw, a public-relations major, did not need to worry about blending in with the crowd. He was a healthy 28-year-old man who enjoyed sports and generally considered himself to be bulletproof.
It was in that month, however, that Bradshaw first began to notice some unusual symptoms. While on vacation in Washington, D.C., he said he felt fatigued and found himself unable to walk without quickly tiring. After being confined to his hotel room for most of the trip, Bradshaw returned to Texas and visited his family doctor.
Although he was diagnosed with bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics, Bradshaw's health continued to deteriorate. In addition to fatigue, he said he started to suffer from severe headaches and stomachaches, which never seemed to go away.
It was during an emergency room visit that doctors determined the real problem: Bradshaw had gone into heart failure. He suffered from a condition known as Cardiomyopathy, meaning that his heart was enlarged and pumping at only 10 percent of the normal capacity. What's more, he would need a heart transplant if he was to have any chance of survival, he said.
Bradshaw said he was shocked. "I flat-out told them [the doctors] that they were crazy, and that I didn't need a heart transplant - that 'you got me mixed up with the guy in the next bed,'" he said. "I was just there for the stomachache."
For months thereafter, Bradshaw refused to believe that he needed a transplant. He was put on several medications and ultimately required a pacemaker and defibrillator to regulate his heart rhythm. Still, this was preferable to a transplant as far as he was concerned.
"Because I didn't know anybody who had survived a transplant, I didn't want to be the invalid who was walking around forever with a walker or a cane," said Bradshaw. "And of course there's fear, fear of the unknown. It sounds like a science experiment: they're gonna give you somebody else's heart."
In late 1999, Bradshaw was admitted to the emergency room once again. This time, he had no other choice - he required an immediate heart transplant. Doctors said that without one, he had only 48 hours to live.
Fortunately, the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance was able to find Bradshaw a donor heart in short order. The organ was rushed to Austin via helicopter from West Texas, and Bradshaw underwent a successful transplant procedure on Oct. 23, 1999.
Sadly, many patients in need of an organ transplant aren't as lucky, said Michelle Segovia, Community Relations Coordinator for TOSA. The lack of donors and available organs results in 17 deaths per day in the United States alone.
"No one expects for a donor organ to become available, since it's such a rare thing," said Segovia. "For the blood type and tissue type to match up to him, it's a pretty rare thing. He's a really lucky guy."
Today, Bradshaw is feeling better than ever and is back to playing sports, an activity he enjoys sharing with his wife and three daughters. He works at a local credit union in addition to being an ACC student. He is also an enthusiastic advocate of organ donation, speaking to groups across the state about its importance and offering living proof of its results.
"The shortage of organs is not like trying to find the cure for cancer or the cure for AIDS…we're not waiting on a cure," he said. "People are the cure, and all it would take is for more people to be aware of what it means to be a donor, talk to their family members, and sign up. If something tragic is going to happen anyway, why can't something good come from it?"
For more information on organ donation, call the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance at 512.459.4848 or visit:
www.txorgansharing.org
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