News

You never can tell where your heart will lead you.” Ozark’s Jim Huffman wrote those words in a blog. His heart has taken him many places. He has been married for 40 years, has three children and four grandchildren. But last year Huffman’s heart led him to the most interesting place of all: A heart transplant.

Huffman wasn’t surprised when he had his first heart attack six years ago; nor was he surprised when he had his second in 2011. Unfortunately, the longtime Ozark insurance agent is familiar with congestive heart failure. “I lost my dad and grandfather 20 hours apart—from heart attacks. It’s a family thing,” he said sitting behind his desk at Naught-Naught Agency.  “They shocked me 12 times and I coded three times,” Huffman said about his second heart attack in 2006. Since then, his heart became weaker and weaker.

Huffman was placed on the transplant list in mid-July, 2012. He started low on the list but as his condition worsened, he moved to the top.

“I went into more serious heart failure,” he said. “I went in the hospital Oct. 23 and they said, ‘You’re not leaving without a heart.’” Thankfully, a week later, Huffman, while in his hospital bed on the third floor of St. Luke’s in Kansas City, got a call on his cell phone from the first floor telling him a donor heart was on the way.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was excited because I knew that day I was going to live or die.”

Fortunately, Huffman lived.

“I had one of the fastest heart transplants—only three-and-a-half hours. It fit—no leaks. They didn’t have to stimulate the heart to get it to beat,” he said. “They say I’m a poster child for a heart transplant. Everybody has a little rejection, but all my (biopsies) have been zero. It’s phenomenal. It’s quite a blessing.”  “It’s like I had a twin brother or sister out there. Zero rejection—that’s rare.”

Huffman, with the help of family, has turned his experience into an avenue to help others. “I started writing my bio sitting in the hospital bed after the surgery,” he said. “I hurt less after the surgery than I did before—I could finally think. So, I started writing these silly little stories (about the experience).” Those silly little stories turned into a website—www.hearttoheartnews. com—to help others facing congestive heart failure and to encourage others to become organ donors.

“My whole goal is education. People need to know that they can help somebody just by clicking a mouse a couple times or signing your driver’s license,” Huffman said. “You’re not just helping one person, but nine people. It’s a big deal. It’s an important deal.”

Huffman’s cousin Cindy Cook Holdford designed the website—an idea stemming from her daughter, Kinsey Cook—and said it started as a way to keep family and friends apprised of Huffman’s recovery. However, it turned into a labor of love. “We believe in paying it forward and giving back and what better way than to provide information so people know the importance of donating blood and signing up to donate an organ,” she said.

The website advocates for organ and blood donation and shares the family’s stories.

“It’s unbelievable the number of organs and the number of things that can be donated,” Huffman said. “The No. 1 thing is actually blood.”

Huffman’s uncle, Springfield resident Harrybill Huffman, has definitely done his fair share of donating blood. He is also featured on the Heart to Heart website.

“I was giving blood with my mother at the Red Cross in Ava. When they got the needle in her she fainted,” Harrybill Huffman said. “At that time, I told mother that I could give blood for the family. I was 17 and I had to have her sign for me.” From that point forward, Harrybill Huffman made an effort to regularly give blood—typically every two to three months. It simply became a part of his life.

“I guess I just made a habit out of it,” he said. “I would give blood just as often as I could. You can help people by giving blood and it’s something I didn’t mind giving—I never missed it.” Harrybill Huffman, 80, donated more than 24 gallons of blood throughout his life. He had to quit giving blood in the mid-90s when he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer. “I’d still like to give blood if that wasn’t holding me back,” he said.

For Holdford, the Heart to Heart website was a way she could honor her father, her cousin and help others. “I can’t express enough how much Jim means to me,” Holdford said. “I just wanted to honor him, honor my dad and help others make a difference like somebody did for Jim and our family by donating their loved one’s organs so that he could live.”

Huffman knows nothing about his organ donor. He doesn’t know if it’s a heart from a man or a woman. And he may never know.

“All we know is it was flown in to Kansas City, but we have no idea where from,” he said. “I have mixed emotions about whether I want to know or not. But I want them to know how I feel.”

Currently, Huffman is composing a letter of thanks to the donor family, which will be delivered  through the transplant organization.

“It’s hard to write a letter to someone you don’t know,” he said. “While we’re giving thanks, they’re mourning.”

Huffman said since receiving his new heart he has more energy, and feels better than he has in years. And last month, Huffman’s new heart led him back to one of the loves of his life: Horses.

“Over the last two years, I haven’t ridden much,” he said. “About three weeks ago, I got back on a horse. That was the biggest thing for me.”

Huffman’s wife, Donna, said the experience has been full of ups and downs, but her husband always kept positive and she is amazed by the amount of support the family received.

“We’re just so grateful to all the thoughts and prayers from people everywhere,” she said. “Our kids and their friends and friends of their friends—people we’ve never met or heard of—have expressed the fact that they have prayed for him. It’s just been amazing.” Huffman said 2012 was a big year. He celebrated his 60th birthday; he and Donna celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary; his mother celebrated her 80th birthday; and Huffman celebrated his first birthday all over again on Oct. 29.

He says his family should be prepared to celebrate two birthdays with him in 2013; the second birthday will celebrate the day he received his new heart. “There will be a party at the barn,” he said. “The emotion attached to this disease is just unbelievable. You just cry like a baby sometimes. But now it’s a happy cry.”