Dennis Thomas was a 30-year-old preschool teacher eating barbecue at Sunday dinner when his mom said, “Something about you looks different, you better go the doctor before work tomorrow.”
Thomas thought maybe he was dehydrated because it was a 100 degree day. But since he believes in a mom’s intuition, Thomas said, “I just listened to mom.” She didn’t give specifics on what aspect of her son looked off.
The doctor detected a heart problem, sent him to Hartford Hospital and next thing Thomas knew, he was in ICU on the heart transplant waiting list.
Thomas was told the left side of his heart was only pumping 10 percent of what it should have been because of myocarditis, or an inflammation of the heart muscle, commonly caused by viral infections.
That was 16 years ago and today, a healthy Thomas is an author, inspirational speaker, a volunteer for New England Donor Services and other organ donor-related organizations, as well as a volleyball and basketball coach Bulkeley High School in Hartford. He lives in Rocky Hill.
“I pay it forward every day,” with the goal of telling at least one person a day his story to potentially help them, he said. He promotes donorship to groups.
“These hearts aren’t available on a shelf at Walmart or on Amazon,” he said. “I’m truly blessed to get a second chance at life. What I thought was dehydration was actually my heart shutting down.”
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Thomas will get the chance to tell his story again this week at Hartford City Hall before an audience, including Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, ahead of National Donor Day, which falls on Valentine’s Day. The event to be held Wednesday, Feb.11, is one of many being hosted by New England Donor Services in the coming days.
New England Donor Services is a leading nonprofit organization that coordinates organ and tissue donation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, the eastern counties of Vermont and Bermuda. NEDS was co-founded in 1968 by Nobel Laureate Dr. Joseph Murray, who performed the world’s first successful organ transplant.
As a teacher, coach and former basketball player, Thomas went into inspirational mode at the start of his diagnosis.
While in ICU he encouraged others waiting for transplant with his words and his example, as he walked 12 hours a day, seven days a week while waiting in ICU. Every moment he wasn’t having a test he walked to strengthen his heart.
“I wanted to encourage other patients to get up and walk,” Thomas said. He was even informally recognized by Hartford Hospital officials for touching so many lives in the transplant unit and being a role model, Thomas said.
Thomas said he received a new heart from a young donor in Philadelphia within five months of being admitted to ICU.
Thomas gave the hospital his original heart for research. He had no history of known heart disease, he wasn’t overweight and had no history of alcohol or drug use, he said.
Some in his circle, Thomas said, believe his late grandmother from heaven played a role in getting him the heart in a timely way.
He was extremely close to his grandmother and the heart became available by surprise, as they all do, the day before her funeral. He had tried everything to get out of the hospital to attend the funeral, but could not.
The morning before her funeral the medical staff woke him at 5:30 a.m. to tell him they had a heart. Thomas says had he been successful in getting to the funeral, he would have missed the chance at the heart and would have had to start to lengthy process again.
Some think she was watching out from the great beyond for her beloved grandson.
Thomas said has never met the donor family, but once had a flight layover in Philadelphia and “felt a different aura.”