NORFOLK, Va. – Matt Ferreol was being wheeled into the operating room at the Sentara Heart Hospital and he was aware of the seriousness of his situation.
His heart had been failing for years. He would die soon if he did not receive a heart transplant.
He was thrilled to learn a donor heart had been found, courtesy of LifeNet Health, the Virginia Beach-based non-profit that has facilitated more than 13,000 life-saving organ transplants since it was founded five decades ago.
But he also knew the risks. Surgeons would cut open his chest, surgically remove his heart and keep blood flowing to his body with an artificial pump until a donor heart was surgically attached to the main arteries and veins.
The vast majority of heart transplants are successful. The new heart almost always begins beating right away. But in some cases, the donor heart fails.
And after five years, 10 percent of heart transplant patients have died.
Matt is a devout Catholic. He works in the office of St. Gregory the Great Church in Virginia Beach. And so, as he prepared for surgery, he prayed. As the anesthesia began to kick in, he recited the Lord's Prayer.
"I knew everything was in God's hands," he said. "Everything that happened to me, it was all part of God's plan. Whatever his plan was, I was OK with it."
"Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name," were the last words he remembers saying.
That was January 19, 2019.
Five years later, Matt is healthy, happy, thankful and dedicated to the cause of increasing awareness that organ donations save lives. Thousands of people die every year because suitable hearts, kidneys, lungs, pancreas' or livers could not be found.
Matt has been the official scorekeeper for Old Dominion University men's basketball the last five years, and tonight, when the ODU men take on Sun Belt Conference leader Appalachian State at 7 p.m., LifeNet Health officials will man a table in the front concourse at Chartway Arena to provide information on becoming a donor.
It was Matt who arranged for LifeNet to come to ODU. It doesn't hurt that his father, Ed, and sister, Miranda, both work for LifeNet.
Alas, Matt knows little about the person whose heart beats in his chest.
"I know that he was five years younger than me and that he lived in Florida," Matt said. "I've been trying to get in touch with the family. But I was told there would be a chance that the family would not respond.
"I hope to meet them one day. But I will respect their wishes if they choose to remain anonymous."
He honors the family by praying for them every day and by also following a healthy lifestyle that includes a good diet and exercise.
His story is unusual in that he waited nine years to receive a heart transplant, and he admits, that's his own fault.
Matt Ferreol with his mother, Marianna, at an Indiana Pacers game.
His heart began to fail in 2010 after he suffered a viral infection that went into his heart. After recovering, he began to experience shortness of breath. It got so bad that he went to the emergency room.
"I would walk from here to there," he said, motioning to a table 10 feet away, "and I would be completely out of breath."
Cardiologists tried every treatment they could think of to heal his heart, and nothing worked. So, doctors installed a pump into his chest that helped keep his heart working. It malfunctioned twice and had to be replaced.
He wore a battery pack around his waist for the next nine years that had to be waterproofed before every shower and plugged into the wall at night. It was constricting, but as best he could, he didn't allow it to constrict his life.
For six years, he coached the Catholic High junior varsity girls basketball team. He was and remains a scorekeeper for the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament and the Catholic parochial league.
Matt would have received his transplant sooner had he not traveled outside of Hampton Roads. Each time you leave the region, you are taken off the transplant list. The Indianapolis, Indiana native is a diehard Pacers fan and he refused to stop seeing his beloved Pacers in person.
Matt Ferreol with the heart pump that was inserted in his chest to keep him alive.
"I wanted to live my life," he said. "I wasn't going to allow this to scare me. I wasn't going to sit on the bench and watch. I was going to participate in life."
So, he flew all over the country to attend NBA and college basketball games, from New York to Boston, and traveled to the Hickory High School Gym in Indiana, where the story of the movie, "Hoosiers," played out in real life.
Finally, as his second pump began to wear down, he heeded his cardiologist's advice and remained in town. He was in the hospital 12 days, as doctors rid his body of blood thinners, and then he learned a heart had been found.
His father and sister played no role in finding him a new heart. Medical ethics forbade their participation. But Matt remains a huge fan of LifeNet, and of the selfless act of donating organs once your life on earth is done.
"I urge everyone to consider being an organ donor," he said. "Don't wait until someone close to you, someone you love, needs a transplant.
"I encourage everyone to consider it, to get the facts, and then if you decide to become an organ or tissue donor, share your decision with your family so that they know this is something you want to do."
Had someone not signed a donor organ pledge in Florida, Matt might not be alive today.
"I'm so appreciative that he made the decision to become a donor," he said.
"My faith and my family got me through this. And so did the game of basketball.
"Instead of focusing on myself, I focused on helping others. It bolstered my sense of self confidence and pride, a sense that I could do something to contribute to society.
"When I woke up from surgery, I immediately looked for my heart pump. And then I realized, it wasn't there, that I had a new heart. I thanked God. I could hardly talk.
"It was like a dream come true."
A dream Matt hopes that some ODU basketball fans tonight will make possible for others.
Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
Minium: ODU Men's Basketball Scorekeeper Matt Ferreol is Alive Because of a Heart Organ Donor
