Samual has been active all of his life. The featured photo is Samuel running in the 2016 Bad Dog 5k.He started martial arts training at five years old with Tae Kwon Do. He
later moved onto Kung Fu and then Capoeira. Now he is back with Tae
Kwon Do.
He has enjoyed African drumming and swimming. He has been on the
swim team and later became a lifeguard and swim instructor. He also
enjoys anime.
He is currently a senior in high school and plans to attend college in the
fall. He plans to major in English and after undergrad, attend law
school.
Samuel’s transplant story begins in February of 2018. He had a cold that
didn’t get better as it usually would have in the past. On the morning of
February 7, 2018, he awoke with signs of a stroke. We called 911 and
he was taken to Methodist North Hospital. There we were informed
that there was a blood clot on the right side of the brain which was
causing the stroke. He was not able to move the left side of his body.
They administered a drug to dissolve the blood clot and transferred him
to Methodist University Hospital where the blood clot was removed.
He was able to move the left side of his body, but all was not well.
Upon further examination, they found there was something wrong with
his heart and transferred him to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital ICU.
We were told that he had Dilated Cardiomyopathy which meant that his
heart wasn’t pumping properly. This in turn caused the blood clot which
led to the stroke.
We were told that best case scenario, he would be on meds for the rest
of his life. Worst case scenario was that he would need a heart
transplant. This was all happening the day of February 7th.

On February 10, Samuel went into cardiac arrest and was put on ECMO,
an external heart pump, during an emergency lifesaving procedure. On
February 12, Samuel underwent surgery for the installation of the LVAD,
an internal heart pump. On February 16, Samuel received his heart
transplant.