Waiting on the organ transplant list is a flurry of emotions, and Randy Mulrooney is no stranger to those feelings. Over the years, many members of Randy’s extended family suffered from various congenital heart conditions and symptoms. Being one of six siblings, the Mulrooney family were tested for possible genetic heart conditions. Doctors discovered that Randy was born with a genetic condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), where the muscles in his heart thicken, making it difficult to pump blood out to the body. Randy’s case was also extra precarious as the thickened muscle caused a blockage in the left ventricle outflow and in a specific place, making it inoperable. This made everyday tasks strenuous. After 29 years of working, Randy had to leave his job and go on long-term disability. It also caused Randy to have a cardiac arrest 30 years ago at the age of 33.
 
“I was diagnosed at the age of 24 when my uncle, who was 44 at the time, died of cardiac arrest. When my uncle passed, we were all advised to get checked. I knew before I went that I was going to have it because I had symptoms all those years,” said Randy. “The test came back that I had HCM. They put me on medication, and then nine years later, at the age of 33, while swimming at the pool at the YMCA, I had a cardiac arrest in the pool. The two lifeguards pulled me out, and one did mouth-to-mouth, and the other did the compressions. The fire station was right next door to the Y, so one of the firemen came over, and between the three of them, they kept me going for a total of eight minutes.”
 
After his cardiac arrest at the YMCA, a pacemaker was implanted in Randy’s chest. In June 2015, Randy was added to the transplant list and began the process of waiting.
 
“So, in June of 2015, I got put on the transplant list. I was told it would probably take three months, and it ended up being six months,” said Randy. “But you know, when you are waiting, and your life is running out, you’re sort of ‘oh my goodness, when is this going to happen?’,” said Randy.
 
There were two instances where Randy got the call to head to the hospital for a heart. The first possible transplant went to a better match, and the second heart was too far away to make it to Randy in time to be viable for a transplant.
 
“The second time it happened, I was in the hospital due to my deteriorating health. When I was in the hospital, they came into the room and said, ‘We found a match, and we think it’s going to happen tonight’. So, they prepped me for surgery, and I called my family and put everybody on alert,” said Randy. “I was down in the pre-surgery room all prepped and ready to go for surgery and 8 o’clock came in the evening, and then it was 9 o’clock, then 10 then 11, and then 12 o’clock when finally somebody from the surgical team came in, pulled the curtain across and said, ‘Sorry Mr. Mulrooney, but we have to tell you the transplant is not going to happen’.”
 
Then came January 6, 2016. Randy was attempting to call his out-of-country friend Clay for his birthday and was talking to his mother back in Newfoundland. As soon as Randy hung up the phone with his mother, his phone immediately rang again. Randy thought it was his friend Clay calling him back, but it was the transplant team. Randy finally got the call that there was a heart arriving in Toronto, and he needed to come to the hospital.
 
“Ramen was her name, and she said, ‘Randy, where have you been? We’ve been trying to contact you; we have a heart for you!’,” said Randy. “And so, I called my mom back, and I said you’re not going to believe who that call was from. I said that was my heart, they have it for me, it’s going to happen tomorrow.”
 
Randy grabbed his pre-packed hospital bag after calling his mother and sister and called his neighbour to tell her the good news.
 
“I was very excited. I went upstairs; I already had my bag packed as they tell you to have your bag ready to go. I have a positive attitude, and I just knew that this was going to be the moment I’ve been waiting for,” said Randy. “Then I called my neighbour, who was with me for a lot of the journey, and she said, ‘Oh my god, do you want me to drive you to the hospital?’ And I said, ‘no I think I’ll just catch a taxi’, which I think back now makes me laugh, because here I am going for a life-or-death moment catching a cab to go to the hospital. Anyway, I called her back, and I said ‘yeah, you can come up and get me’.”
 
Before he left, Randy had sent out a mass email to all the family, friends, co-workers, and community members who knew about his transplant journey in an email with the subject line ‘I’m on my way to the hospital’. Randy sent an official notice that he had received the call and would be going into surgery for his transplant. Once at Toronto General Hospital, Randy was admitted, and the clinical team began pre-op procedures and prepping his IVs. For the next few hours before his surgery, Randy began receiving messages and emails.
 
“I just said to all my family and friends, ‘hey, just got the call. I’m on my way to the hospital, so now is the time you can send me whatever you want in any form. Whether it be prayers, energy, thoughts, you can send it as I’m on my way now’,” said Randy. “I was inundated with emails and text messages. I honestly feel like I experienced my wake. The words and the messages of love, kindness, and compassion. People telling me how I affected their lives, and as you can tell, it’s powerful. My mind was constantly active and being uplifted.”
 
The transplant surgery took place on January 7, 2016, which Randy now affectionately calls his Rebirth Day. Eight days later, Randy was cleared to go home and was already climbing up and down stairs and walking a kilometre.
 
“I remember I was waiting for them to bring a wheelchair up to escort me to the front door and in that time, I went up to the nursing station, and I said, ‘is there anybody here who can bring me to do my stair climb one more time before I leave?’ And the nurse at the desk said, ‘oh you’re the super patient we heard about!’,” said Randy. “To me, I’m just living my journey, I had nothing to compare it to. It was at that time I found out everything went as well as it could be and should be, and here I was, getting out eight days later.”
 
Randy, now 63, got his health and life back and was able to do all the things his condition barred him from doing. He was able to walk without being winded, able to tie his shoes, and carry his groceries, but most importantly, Randy was able to fly home to Newfoundland and help his siblings take care of his ailing mother before her passing. 
 
Randy’s heart transplant changed his life, and he credits the great work of the Toronto General Hospital transplant and surgical team and Ornge for getting his heart to him in a safe and timely manner.
 
Ornge is part of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, which coordinates the transportation of surgical teams and donated organs to the people and the hospitals that need them most.
 
“Right now, I’m living the dream. The gratitude I have for my heart is so big. I planned my whole life around dying young,” said Randy. “To have a company like Ornge to be able to be dependable, reliable, they know what they must do to get the organ to the hospital on time, with all the safety and medical rules that must be followed. Without you guys, I wouldn’t be here.”
 
Randy now spends his days swimming a kilometre three times a week, cycling in the summer, travelling, and mentoring other patients waiting for transplants. He says he feels eternally grateful for the service Ornge provides when he sees a helicopter fly overhead.
 
“I’m still having all these moments in my life, including this one, where I feel I’m here to make a difference. So, I do that by going back to mentor,” said Randy. “I can’t tell you how many times I would be walking down the street, and I would see an Ornge helicopter flying over the city, and I would just stop, and I’d look up at it and wonder ‘who’s life is being saved?’  
 
Ornge is proud to be part of the Trillium Gift of Life Network and acknowledges the dedication and coordination of the organ donation network and the transplant coordinators. Collectively, we work towards saving more lives like Randy Mulrooney’s and encourage all who are willing to consider organ donation.

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