What's is like to desperately need a heart transplant? And then, to actually get one and survive the surgery? Gene Shimandle went through that journey and shared his experience with Hudson Clocktower Rotary.
Gene Shimandle taught at Case Western for 19 years and has instructed over 50,000 people to perform cardiac resusitation. He also ran the early Hudson Farmers Market.In May of 2005 he was told he had congestive heart failure and needed a heart transplant. Over the next 5 1/2 years he had two artificial hearts inplanted. When the first clotted he was given a thinner with a 50 percent chance of stroke. It cleared the heart. When the second heart clogged it cleared itself. His doctor said he had never seen this happen before and whoever he was praying to, he should keep it up.
Gene always said a heart would be given to him when God saw fit and in May 2017 he received a heart from a 20 year old new driver who died in a car accident. Five months after the new heart he ran the Aurora Turkey Trot 5K race. The Fox 8 news team ran his story. They asked if he would like to meet his donor’s family from Norwalk. 16 came to Aurora to watch him race.
He has met over 80 members of the donors family and maintains communications with over 16. After one year a receipient is asked to write a letter to the family of the
donor. Gene’s letter took 15 tries and was distributed to all of the Lifebank employees as the most moving letter they had ever seen.
donor. Gene’s letter took 15 tries and was distributed to all of the Lifebank employees as the most moving letter they had ever seen.
Soon after this, it came into his mind that he should walk from the Cleveland Clinic to the White House. His Google instructions led him past his birth home in Maple Heights, his elementry and high schools, his first CPR business and in all nine important locations.
On his 357 mile walk, he slept in a hammock and communicated on Facebook. He used a solar charger to keep his phone working. 50 people met him in Pittsburgh. At one point a lady texting and driving ran over his shoe tips but didn’t hurt him. 35 miles outside of Washington his solar charger stopped working. His phone had only 5 percent left when Gene entered the World of Beer Tavern. There he met Roger Williams who knew Karen Moore who started the Opt-in program in Wales that assumes all want to donate organs and if they don’t they can opt out. If we were to adopt such a position in America, Congress would need to pass legislation allowing it.
You can reach Gene by email at geneshimandle@gmail.com.