After transplant, Erwin shares birthday with mother

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  • Colorado City resident Heath Erwin (center) walked several hours after his heart transplant.
    Colorado City resident Heath Erwin (center) walked several hours after his heart transplant.
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Heath Erwin has a new birthday.

On June 25, the 42-year-old Colorado City resident received a heart transplant after a lifelong heart condition.

“Right before he went to sleep, the nurse told him that when he wakes up, he’ll have a new birthday,” Heath’s mother, Leigh Ann Erwin, said. “The nurse said, ‘When you get a new heart, you get to start over.’”

His new birthday is the same day as his mother’s 60th birthday.

Leigh Ann Erwin grew up in Snyder, and her parents, Howard and Jo Sterling, still reside here. According to Leigh Ann Erwin, her son’s heart problems began the day he was born.

“He was born with transposition of the great arteries, a congenital heart defect,” she said. “At 10 months old, he had open heart surgery to correct that heart defect. It worked, but as he aged, his heart got weak. He lived a pretty typical life. The only thing he couldn’t do was play organized sports.” 

Between 2004-06, Heath Erwin had a heart attack and two strokes. In 2005, he was referred to cardiac specialist Dr. Beth Brickner at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and in 2007, he had a pacemaker defibrillator put in. Over the last decade, his heart continued to weaken. He was kept in stable condition with medication and learned that a transplant was in his future.

“At UT Southwestern, there’s a team of about 10 transplant doctors who work together and confer with one another to make decisions,” Leigh Ann Erwin said. “If one of them is not there, there’s another one who knows everything about a patient. We knew Heath was pretty sick, and we went for a checkup with Dr. Alphesh Amin, and he said that he could tell by testing that Heath was ready for a transplant.”

He went in for a transplant evaluation, which took five days.

“It’s a very thorough examination from mental to blood to lungs to make sure his body is a candidate for a transplant,” Leigh Ann Erwin said. “He even had unhealthy teeth that had to be removed.”

From there, his test results were sent to a transplant committee for evaluation, and he was put on the transplant list.

“He was then put in the intensive care unit because he was so sick,” Leigh Ann Erwin said. “We suspected he would be there for months, and we were prepared for that. Less than 48 hours later, we got the call that they had a heart for him.”

That night he underwent surgery.

As the transplant progressed, the Erwins received hourly updates over the nine-and-a-half-hour surgery, and by early the next morning Heath Erwin’s heart transplant was successfully completed.

“One of the biggest feelings I had during the surgery was a guilt feeling because he got his heart so quick,” Leigh Ann Erwin said. “I kept thinking about all of these other people who were waiting for a heart for months. I think one of the reasons he got his so quick is that he’s a small person. That gives him a wider range of donors.”

Six hours after his surgery, Heath Erwin was sitting in a chair and just a few hours after that, he was up walking. 

“His physical therapist in the hospital called him ‘The Beast,’” Leigh Ann Erwin said. “The therapist said, ‘I have never seen someone so strong-willed.’ The recovery is mostly mental and depends on determination.”

Heath Erwin spent 12 days in the hospital and three months in the Dallas area for testing three to four times per week. He is currently home in Colorado City recovering.

“The first year is really the critical time of recuperation,” Leigh Ann Erwin said. “He’s a really quiet person and doesn’t express a lot of emotions, but I can tell he’s grateful and that he’s happier. I’m sure he feels relief and I know he feels better.”