Boy's organ donation is catalyst for the unexpected blossoming of a bond between his family, recipient's.
Just mention the name and a tender look washes across the 67-year-old Lewis' face. Tears fill his eyes as he gently pats his chest.
The two never met.
But ever since the 14-year-old was killed in a car accident heading to baseball practice 10 years ago, Lewis has been walking around with Bubba's heart in his chest. On that June day while Bubba was taking his final breath, Lewis was on a heart transplant list, living thanks to a heart pump that kept his ailing body alive.
Ten years later, Lewis' wife, Julie, recalled the late-night phone call saying a heart was available. It was a few days later, after Steve Lewis' body was accepting the new organ, he was told his new heart came from a young male killed in a car accident.
"They told us it was a good heart," Julie Lewis said.
It has served Steve Lewis well the past 10 years.
Just before noon Thursday, 111,816 people across the nation were waiting for a lifesaving transplant, according to Ray Gabel, community education coordinator with Midwest Transplant Network. Unfortunately, there aren't an equal number of donors for the waiting recipients.
"Each day about 18 people die waiting for a lifesaving transplant. And every 12 minutes a new name is added to the list for a transplant," Gabel said.
Meanwhile, there continues to be an increase in the demand for organ transplants due to a rise in diabetes, hepatitis and heart disease.
"Ten years, or more, ago, if you were diabetic and needed a heart transplant, it was considered high-risk and you may not have gotten listed," Gabel said. "Today it's still a concern, but they have great success with those cases. And in another area, women are being better diagnosed with heart disease than they were in the past, so we are seeing more women who need transplants."
A year ago, Kansas became a "First Person Consent" state, which means people 18 years and older can go online to the registry at www.donatelifekansas.com and sign up to be donors of their organs and tissue upon death.
Back in the spring of 2001, Bubba had just heard a person speak at his junior high about becoming an organ donor. He had raised his hand, telling his teacher and classmates he was going to be a donor when the time arrived. Less than a month later, his parents were seeing to his wishes.
Roger Porter, Bubba's dad, remembered a son who was 6 feet tall and 140 pounds, who loved baseball and basketball. When the two would wrestle on the floor, Bubba overpowered his dad, forcing Porter to stop and rest his head on his son's chest. He was very familiar with the rhythm of his son's heartbeat.
Following a transplant, the rule is donors and recipients must wait a year before they can contact each other. Porter called the Lewis home in Haven, asking if they wanted to be in touch. Steve Lewis said yes, but the two men began crying so hard, their wives had to continue the conversation. They met in person when Lewis came to Oklahoma for a checkup with his heart doctor. That, too, was an emotional meeting.
"Think about it. Here's a young boy just starting life saving another person's life," Julie Lewis said, still marveling at the selfless act.
"It was the hardest thing I ever did," Steve Lewis said, about meeting Bubba's family.
Both men fell into each other's arms and cried.
"I couldn't help but ask Steve if I could listen to his heart," Porter said. "It sounded just like Bubba's."
Steve had a question for Roger: "Did Bubba like dill pickles?"
"Only by the gallons," Porter told him. "Steve started to cry, saying all his life he had hated dill pickles. Now he craves them."
A bond formed between the two men that Porter says is hard to explain.
"I just feel connected like he's family. It's a strange deal. The very first time I saw and met him, it was more like I was meeting a much-loved family member."
Every time he met a Porter family member, it was emotional all over again. Bubba's sister wanted Lewis to come to the hospital when her first child was born, and he and Julie made the trip.
Porter admits that when he first learned his son's heart went to a 57-year-old man, he was disappointed. He wanted it to go to a young person so it could go on beating for decades. But in retrospect, he has been pleased with how well Lewis has taken care of himself. A younger person might not diligently take the 82 pills that he ingested daily after the transplant.
"I'm thankful Steve has his heart," Porter said.
As they got acquainted, the similarities in their lives were uncanny, Porter said.
Lewis had worked for Haven Farmer's Co-op and it was a big-wheeled fertilizer truck that that crashed head-on into the van Bubba was riding in that June day. At the time, Porter was working for Coca-Cola and Julie Lewis collects Coca-Cola artifacts.
"Steve raced horses; Bubba loved horses," Porter said.
During the past 10 years, the relationship has grown. Every time Lewis comes to Oklahoma for a medical checkup, they meet at a restaurant.
Every spring, the Lewises visit Glencoe High School, where Bubba would have been a freshman in the fall of 2001. They talk to the graduating class about Bubba, the accident, and how his organ donation gave Steve continued life.
"By now, most of the students don't know him," Julie Lewis said of Bubba. But still they make the trip every spring.
"I want them to know how important it is to think of others," she said.
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