A lifesaving transplant renews hope just in time

Derick is a husband, a father of three, an ex-marine, but most importantly a strong man of faith. He believes his faith is what gave him the most strength throughout his tumultuous journey a year ago when his heart began failing.

It all started in Disney World where Derick and his wife, Ambria had taken their annual vacation with their children. Coming back from one of the parks at the end of the day Ambria had noticed Derick was extremely fatigued and out of breath.

After being married for 15 years, she knew Derick, and his lack of energy was unlike him. She rushed him to the emergency room.

Derick had been told a few years previously by a cardiologist that his heart was enlarged but it could be managed with medication. However, upon arriving to the ER, besides having pneumonia, the doctor informed him that his heart was failing. His heart function was at 20% capacity and needed repair on a leaky heart valve.

Given the trauma, his heart had gone through and how weak it was, Derick could not be approved for a traditional heart valve replacement. Instead, there was a new procedure they had recommended for Derick, but it had yet to be approved in the United States.

After months of waiting, until the procedure was finally approved, Derick’s condition continued to deteriorate. His health was quickly declining and he was no longer a suitable candidate for the new procedure either.

His heart was now functioning at 10% capacity and he was told by his doctors in the UAB hospital in Alabama, that Derick needed a transplant as soon as possible and transferred him to Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville by medical flight. 

On the flight to Jacksonville, Derick was by himself and kept fading in and out, experiencing extreme mental fog.

“I told myself even though I was scared that I couldn’t show Ambria I was scared- I had to be strong for her. I said a prayer unlike one I had ever said before. I was told I had to do my part, and the rest would be handled for me,” Derick said emotionally. “And that’s exactly what I did. When I landed my numbers had improved from those at the hospital in Alabama.”

For the first time in 15 years, Ambria and Derick were separated for a long period of time, as Ambria was juggling her job, and taking care of their children.

They had both met about 18 years ago in church, and Derick said the first time he met Ambria, he knew she was the one he was going to marry. Derick said it happened exactly how he envisioned it in a dream, and then one day at church there she was. After a month of talking the first time they hung out outside of the church, he invited her over to meet his family.

From there onwards, the rest is history. Their parents have a nickname for both of them- Velcro.

When Ambria joined him from Alabama, Derick had already undergone surgery, he was on ECMO and an additional balloon pump for a total of 3 machines on his heart- despite this, however, by a miracle, as Derick and his doctors put it- he was walking on a treadmill just five weeks later.

The doctors saw the fight in Derick and pushed him to the top of the transplant list- within a few weeks, Derick got the call and was transplanted on December 9th.

“You can’t make this up,” Derick said. “The change in me was night and day, within five weeks of the transplant I was nearly running on the treadmill,” said Derick.

Derick said he could not wait to go back home and hug his daughters. They haven’t been able to see him. He was almost 100 pounds heavier and unable to walk by himself. Now with his new lease on life, he would be able to pick up his daughters for the first time in over a year.

Ambria said, “He had lost about 90 pounds from the swelling and bloating, and had been the healthiest he has been in a year.

She said he still needed some ongoing care in Alabama, but Mayo Clinic and the support of Gabriel House were really the ones to give him life.

The support and care of the people at Gabriel House gave Ambria the strength she needed to support Derrick, and she stated that she could not have imagined going without the support and care of the community around them at our house. 

Derrick says he tells his story to those in our house as a symbol of how his faith and the hope he had within himself allowed him to transform into a healthier person for his family and friends.