DELPHOS — Bob Grothouse, 64, of Delphos considers himself lucky. He received a heart transplant 20 years ago and is thankful to be alive.
“Best present there ever was as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
A virus attacked Grothouse’s heart causing it to enlarge to three times the size it should have been.
“My heart swelled to the size of a basketball instead of your fist,” said Grothouse.
It was in 1997 that he learned he had cardiomyopathy. Grothouse found himself traveling to Cleveland Clinic working with a cardiology specialist.
“We knew for probably a year and a half that I would need a heart. I insisted that I not stay up there (in Cleveland). I’d go for regular appointments and he would tune me up with different medications, until finally one time it didn’t work. That would have been the end of October of 1997. My cardiologist wouldn’t let me go home. He said, ‘There’s a lot of people your size out there, you have a good blood type and seeing how it is the holidays, you may not have to wait so long.’ I got real lucky,” said Grothouse.
Grothouse received his heart on Nov. 21 of that year.
“I waited four to six weeks for a heart,” said Grothouse. “Aaron McCay, he was just 15 when he passed.”
Grothouse explained that it was Aaron’s younger sister who came up with the idea to do “something nice,” and suggested to her mother to harvest her brother’s organs. Aaron’s two younger brothers agreed as well.
“The entire family had a say in it,” said Grothouse.
Grothouse found himself, out of respect, wanting to know the donor’s family.
“How that works is you have to go through Life Bank. It is set up and you send a letter to them and then they contact the donor or vice versa. If the other party decides they would like to communicate, then they will send letters back and forth. If you both agree that you want to converse personally, then they direct letters. They won’t tell you anything until they get permission from both parties,” said Grothouse.
Grothouse met his heart donor’s family, located in Traverse City, Michigan, shortly after receiving the transplant.
“When I met the family up there in Michigan, Alicia, Aaron’s younger sister, looks at me and she has alligator tears, just big suckers, but then she looks at me and she got the biggest smile on her face and she says, ‘Bob can I listen to Aaron’s heart?’ Now that’s a tough one,” said Grothouse. “She would tell me about him, but not much. Basically she said he was like their dad.”
Grothouse traveled to Traverse City, taking the family out to dinner for a little while after that until the kids all got older.
To this day he keeps a picture of Aaron and his family in his office.
“Twenty years later, I’m able to stand with my granddaughter who is 8-years-old. Back in 1997, I wouldn’t have ever imagined that. But that is probably the coolest thing about this, what you’re able to do that you never thought about thinking about doing. You think of something like that, it hits home,” said Grothouse.
Since his heart transplant, Grothouse has been passionate about spreading the word of the value of organ donation.
“Everyone needs to consider being an organ donor. Register with Lifeline of Ohio or check that box when getting your license,” said Grothouse. “It can mean so much to someone.”
Grothouse’s health has not been perfect since the heart transplant.
“I’ve had so much stuff go wrong, it sucks, but I’m here,” said Grothouse.
Just last year Grothouse had a second heart surgery.
“I ended up feeling like crap and ended up needing four bypasses and while they were in there they did two valve repairs,” said Grothouse. “That was the second time I was told I would not be here the next morning.”
Grothouse has been on dialysis for the past eight years and has suffered from the medication he has to take due to the heart transplant.
“I had a herniated bowel fixed, twice. I’ve had four or five other hernia surgeries, they took some of my teeth out because of the medication, I had cancer about nine years ago from the medication. So who knows? Like I say, I’ve been pretty damn lucky,” he said.
Grothouse said he is thankful for his family, his employees and everyone else.
“My granddaughter said, ‘You know, Papaw, you’re really lucky,’ and I said, ‘I know I am honey,’” he said.
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