Transplant recipient has organ donation education at heart

Lake Houston Observer | Stefanie Thomas
Photo: Shannon Lenox and Michael Nall have become a powerful team advocating organ donation by giving educational speeches around the Houston area.

This is the second part of a three-part series of articles in recognition of National Donate Life Month and in support of the 11,438 patients currently signed up with organ donation registries in Texas. In part one of the series last week, the Observer spoke with the family of Roy Heck, who died in a car accident in April 2010 and donated his organs to four Houston-area recipients. Today, the Observer shares the perspective of Michael Nall, who received Roy’s heart. Next week, the Observer hopes to provide insights from an organ procurement organization and dispel some myths about organ donation.

Michael Nall spent weeks in a hospital bed, listening to helicopters come and go, each time hoping this would be the chopper that would bring him his life-saving gift: a new heart. There was a time when Nall feared he wouldn’t see his next birthday. Today, the 62-year-old grandfather from Cypress has a new lease on life.

Nall had struggled with heart disease since his 30s, and with each passing year, his health dwindled a little more. Over time, he suffered several heart attacks, and his heart was functioning at only 50 percent capacity. The disease left Nall with an ongoing feeling of malaise, short of breath and often tired. As the disease progressed, playing ball with his children was out of the question, as were many other activities fathers like to engage in to spend quality time with their offspring.
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