A living legacy
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Wife of an organ donor meets heart recipient
By Janie Ginocchio
jginocchio@paragoulddailypress.com
When someone loses a loved one, there are always reminders of that person: an article of clothing, a favorite shared activity, a place that holds special memories. On April 10, Jocelyn Noel of Paragould opened her door and came face-to-face with a living, breathing reminder of her late husband, Rick — Robert McClintock, the man who received Rick’s heart.
“Part of Rick is here,” Noel said the next day at a family gathering welcoming McClintock, who lives in Connellsville, Pa., and his nephew Don Lint.
“I was a nervous wreck the whole trip,” McClintock said. “But it really feels good (to be here). I wanted to tell them my appreciation and wanted to meet them.”
“We have a new member of the family,” Noel said. “I’m fortunate to now have a face with a name.”
A long journey
Almost three years later, and it’s still difficult at times for Noel to talk about Rick’s death. Pain is evident in her voice as she talks about the phone call she received at 4:29 a.m. July 18, 2007.
Rick was an over the road truck driver for a local trucking company. He had driven to Pennsylvania to make a delivery and made a stop in Wheeling, W. Va. He was assaulted just before 3 a.m. by an unknown person as he was walking along a road near a truck stop, according to news reports at the time.
“He was conscious enough to give them my name and phone number,” Noel said. “They told me I needed to make arrangements to get there as soon as possible. They also needed verbal permission to do brain surgery.”
Noel and her brother got on a flight in Memphis and after a layover in Chicago, flew into Pittsburgh, where they rented a car and drove to Wheeling.
“He never regained consciousness,” she said.
The next night, swelling put pressure on his brain and doctors told Noel to send word to their five children — Rick’s three sons and Noel’s son and daughter — to make the trip.
“There was a sign over the bed that said ‘no stimulation.’ He was in a medically induced coma,” Noel said. “I couldn’t even talk to him.”
Rick was declared dead at 7 p.m. July 20, 2007. He was 46 years old.
Rick’s driver’s license indicated he was an organ donor. Noel said she passed it around to all of the kids.
“I wanted all of the kids to know this is what he chose to do,” she said. “I’m very thankful that Rick had made this decision and I was able to show that it was his choice.
“Being so far from home and all of this being thrown on top of me, I don’t know what decision I would have made. I would have asked the kids to decide, and that’s not a fair place to put them in, either.”
“At first it bothered me to cut him open like that,” daughter Jennifer Hobbs said. “But again I’m an organ donor. I know there was nothing he can do with them and they may help someone. I was bothered, but happy.”
“It was tough how they had to keep him going,” son Matt Hobbs said of doctors keeping Rick’s heart beating through artificial means until his organs could be harvested.
“For 40 hours I sat with Rick (waiting for the transplant teams to arrive),” Noel said. “Because you see the heart going, you think he’s still alive and there’s no way he’s dead. The hard part was to sit and wait for that long. Maybe with more awareness and transplant teams, people wouldn’t wait that long.”
The transplant team harvested several organs, including Rick’s heart, liver, kidneys and spleen. His lungs couldn’t be used because he was a heavy smoker, Noel said.
“People need to be aware that even though one thing can’t be used, other organs can be donated,” she said.
A heart in 10 days
McClintock’s heart troubles began in 1980, and by 2005 he’d had two heart attacks and had received a defibrillator. Doctors told the now-74-year-old he needed another surgery, and after 30 days in the hospital, things took a turn for the worse.
“I couldn’t walk,” he said. “I sat in a chair for 16 months. I couldn’t
do anything.”
He said he asked a friend to take him to the hospital in Pittsburgh in July 2007.
“I told him, ‘If you don’t take me to Pittsburgh, I won’t be here,” he said.
The second night in the Pittsburgh hospital, his heart stopped, but doctors were able to revive him. They told him he needed a new heart.
He spent 10 days in the hospital and was told he would be fitted with a pump to help regulate his heart so he could be sent home to wait for a donor heart to become available. While they were showing him how to use the pump, someone came in and said he wouldn’t need it — a heart just became available.
“Without that heart, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I got a heart in 10 days — that usually doesn’t happen. But I wasn’t coming back if I went home with that pump.”
He said after not being able to walk at all before the transplant, he was shocked to discover he could walk the halls of the hospital and climb stairs within weeks of his surgery.
“I can do anything,” he said. “The doctor told me, ‘I just gave you 20 more years on your life.’”
He said one habit he picked up while in the hospital after the transplant was drinking coffee.
“I never drank coffee,” he said.
“Rick drank it all the time,” Noel said.
Getting in contact
At first, Noel and McClintock exchanged letters through the organ donation organization that made the match. She said she writes the other donors once a year, but none have chosen to make contact.
“We were very limited on the information we could give,” Noel said, adding she signed an authorization to release more information on March 31 of this year, which allowed them to finally speak to each other on the phone. Next came the visit last week.
“It’s a very emotional thing,” Gretta Pruitt, Noel’s mother, said. “I thought, why are they doing this? I would rather it be anonymous. I don’t think I was prepared for this, but now I’m very glad I met (McClintock and his nephew).”
“It’s been a mixed bag of emotions,” Lint, McClintock’s nephew, said. “Meeting this family and hearing about Rick’s terrible fate. He had so much to live for and such a great family. But because he signed a donor card, my uncle got to receive his heart and his children and grandchildren will now be able to have him for many years. (Rick) was such a wonderful person. We’re forever indebted.”
“In my eyes, Rick was a hero,” Noel said. “He helped so many people.”
“Part of Rick is here,” Noel said the next day at a family gathering welcoming McClintock, who lives in Connellsville, Pa., and his nephew Don Lint.
“I was a nervous wreck the whole trip,” McClintock said. “But it really feels good (to be here). I wanted to tell them my appreciation and wanted to meet them.”
“We have a new member of the family,” Noel said. “I’m fortunate to now have a face with a name.”
A long journey
Almost three years later, and it’s still difficult at times for Noel to talk about Rick’s death. Pain is evident in her voice as she talks about the phone call she received at 4:29 a.m. July 18, 2007.
Rick was an over the road truck driver for a local trucking company. He had driven to Pennsylvania to make a delivery and made a stop in Wheeling, W. Va. He was assaulted just before 3 a.m. by an unknown person as he was walking along a road near a truck stop, according to news reports at the time.
“He was conscious enough to give them my name and phone number,” Noel said. “They told me I needed to make arrangements to get there as soon as possible. They also needed verbal permission to do brain surgery.”
Noel and her brother got on a flight in Memphis and after a layover in Chicago, flew into Pittsburgh, where they rented a car and drove to Wheeling.
“He never regained consciousness,” she said.
The next night, swelling put pressure on his brain and doctors told Noel to send word to their five children — Rick’s three sons and Noel’s son and daughter — to make the trip.
“There was a sign over the bed that said ‘no stimulation.’ He was in a medically induced coma,” Noel said. “I couldn’t even talk to him.”
Rick was declared dead at 7 p.m. July 20, 2007. He was 46 years old.
Rick’s driver’s license indicated he was an organ donor. Noel said she passed it around to all of the kids.
“I wanted all of the kids to know this is what he chose to do,” she said. “I’m very thankful that Rick had made this decision and I was able to show that it was his choice.
“Being so far from home and all of this being thrown on top of me, I don’t know what decision I would have made. I would have asked the kids to decide, and that’s not a fair place to put them in, either.”
“At first it bothered me to cut him open like that,” daughter Jennifer Hobbs said. “But again I’m an organ donor. I know there was nothing he can do with them and they may help someone. I was bothered, but happy.”
“It was tough how they had to keep him going,” son Matt Hobbs said of doctors keeping Rick’s heart beating through artificial means until his organs could be harvested.
“For 40 hours I sat with Rick (waiting for the transplant teams to arrive),” Noel said. “Because you see the heart going, you think he’s still alive and there’s no way he’s dead. The hard part was to sit and wait for that long. Maybe with more awareness and transplant teams, people wouldn’t wait that long.”
The transplant team harvested several organs, including Rick’s heart, liver, kidneys and spleen. His lungs couldn’t be used because he was a heavy smoker, Noel said.
“People need to be aware that even though one thing can’t be used, other organs can be donated,” she said.
A heart in 10 days
McClintock’s heart troubles began in 1980, and by 2005 he’d had two heart attacks and had received a defibrillator. Doctors told the now-74-year-old he needed another surgery, and after 30 days in the hospital, things took a turn for the worse.
“I couldn’t walk,” he said. “I sat in a chair for 16 months. I couldn’t
do anything.”
He said he asked a friend to take him to the hospital in Pittsburgh in July 2007.
“I told him, ‘If you don’t take me to Pittsburgh, I won’t be here,” he said.
The second night in the Pittsburgh hospital, his heart stopped, but doctors were able to revive him. They told him he needed a new heart.
He spent 10 days in the hospital and was told he would be fitted with a pump to help regulate his heart so he could be sent home to wait for a donor heart to become available. While they were showing him how to use the pump, someone came in and said he wouldn’t need it — a heart just became available.
“Without that heart, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I got a heart in 10 days — that usually doesn’t happen. But I wasn’t coming back if I went home with that pump.”
He said after not being able to walk at all before the transplant, he was shocked to discover he could walk the halls of the hospital and climb stairs within weeks of his surgery.
“I can do anything,” he said. “The doctor told me, ‘I just gave you 20 more years on your life.’”
He said one habit he picked up while in the hospital after the transplant was drinking coffee.
“I never drank coffee,” he said.
“Rick drank it all the time,” Noel said.
Getting in contact
At first, Noel and McClintock exchanged letters through the organ donation organization that made the match. She said she writes the other donors once a year, but none have chosen to make contact.
“We were very limited on the information we could give,” Noel said, adding she signed an authorization to release more information on March 31 of this year, which allowed them to finally speak to each other on the phone. Next came the visit last week.
“It’s a very emotional thing,” Gretta Pruitt, Noel’s mother, said. “I thought, why are they doing this? I would rather it be anonymous. I don’t think I was prepared for this, but now I’m very glad I met (McClintock and his nephew).”
“It’s been a mixed bag of emotions,” Lint, McClintock’s nephew, said. “Meeting this family and hearing about Rick’s terrible fate. He had so much to live for and such a great family. But because he signed a donor card, my uncle got to receive his heart and his children and grandchildren will now be able to have him for many years. (Rick) was such a wonderful person. We’re forever indebted.”
“In my eyes, Rick was a hero,” Noel said. “He helped so many people.”
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