Transplant Survivor Going 10 Years on Special Gift of Life

By Natalie Pierre
The CNL

Jerry Wigginton spent over 32 years teaching mathematics at Cleveland High School. His wife, Bonnie, worked as a record keeper at Baxter.

According to them, they lived what many would describe as an ordinary life.

For a while.

The couple got a taste of what was to come in 1975 as Jerry suffered his first heart attack at the age of 35.

Wigginton remained out of the classroom for nearly a year, taking medicine and trying to nurse himself back to good health while his wife, Bonnie Wiggington, did everything she could possibly do to help her husband recuperate.

It was only the beginning, as ordinary would become an extraordinary battle against what some would have seen as insurmountable odds.

Mowing the lawn outside of his home in August of 1997, Jerry went into cardiac arrest.

His teaching career at his beloved Cleveland High School would be over.

The damage to his heart was severe.

Doctors told him he would need a heart transplant to live.

“I waited for about a year for my transplant. During that time they had me taking medicine. When they called me and said they had a heart for me, I was extremely weak,” Jerry recalls.

“It had gotten to the point where he was so far gone that he had lost 110 pounds,” Bonnie explained.

Doctors searched frantically for a suitable heart to sustain Jerry's life. He spent the next two years in and out of hospitals as the waiting game was played.

On April 25, 1999, Jerry finally got the call.

A donor had been found.

“He got the heart of a male that was 22 years old and had been in a motorcycle accident,” Bonnie said.

As the 10-year mark rapidly approaches since Jerry received his transplant, both he and his wife are thankful that the heart worked and still continues to work to this day.

“My heart is working well right now. But you always have some minor phases,” Jerry said.

“They say the average life of a transplant is about 10 years. But they don’t mean that it quits working at 10 years. Some of them don’t work for even a year; some also work a lot longer.”

At heart transplant reunions that Jerry attends he has heard numerous stories of other people’s experiences with their own heart transplants.

“I have met someone whose transplant was 17 years old,” he said.

Although the story of Jerry's heart transplant is one of endearing success, there were many difficult circumstances that the couple had to face before they got to where they are today.

One can only imagine.

Bonnie said, “When he had his transplant he was in the hospital for nearly two months.”

“When I went in to the surgery the surgeon came out and told her that I probably would not make it through the surgery,” Jerry said.

“I stayed in a hotel for three weeks after the transplant because he didn’t wake up for three weeks after the surgery. They didn’t really know what would happen,” Bonnie said.

Although Jerry's heart is in good health right now, he continues to take upwards of 15 pills a day to keep himself healthy.

“One prescription, a three months supply, is $2,700,” Jerry said.

Right now, at age 68, Jerry reports to the doctor only about once a year.

“At first I had to go every week. Then they spread it out to every two weeks and now it’s less than once a year,” he said.

Although Jerry does not have to worry about going to the doctor on a regular basis, he does have to worry about a number of other things every time he leaves his home.

“He does not have an immune system,” Bonnie said. “If there is a virus in the air he will get it.”

Jerry must take extra precautions everywhere he goes to ensure he does not get the airborne viruses that are out there.

Fighting off viruses such as the shingles and battling with his heart constantly, Jerry still has never been alone in his struggles. He has had Bonnie by his side, even at his weakest moments doing what she can to take care of him.

Even though the couple has been through a great deal, they still consider themselves lucky and are greatly appreciative to the donor that gave his heart to Jerry, providing him the opportunity to live his life along side his wife, family and friends.

“A lot of people don’t get a heart. They wait and wait and wait, but they have to have a heart that matches,” said Bonnie.

“I am very thankful that I got the heart," Jerry offered. "There should be more people that decide to be organ donors.”

The Wiggintons would like to encourage people to become organ donors and to consider lives just like Jerry's. Lives that are saved everyday by people making the decision to become an organ donor.

For more information on becoming an organ donor, please visit www.organdonor.gov.