If you have been following along, then you might be familiar with most of this amazing story: How former UNLV soccer star Simon Keith has become the world's longest-surviving heart transplant recipient; how, after refusing to be defined by his condition for more than 25 years, he finally has come to grips with it and embraces it; how he has started a foundation to raise awareness for organ donation; and, now, how he finally has written the book that had been bouncing around inside his head for more than 25 years, like a soccer ball at one of those games played indoors on a hockey rink.
But to finally finish that book, appropriately called "Heart for the Game," Keith first had to write the last chapter, which, as so often happens in the publishing business, became the first chapter in the book.
He had to visit Wales, in the United Kingdom - where his father was born - to meet the loved ones of a young man who, like him, had been a young soccer phenom; who, like him, was born with a defective vital organ. This young man had an aneurysm that ruptured - right there on the soccer pitch - filling his brain with blood.
This was the young man who had to die so Simon Keith could live.
Nothing can prepare one for a journey such as this. There is no manual, no advice, nothing you can look up on Wikipedia. So you just go with your gut. You let emotions be your guide and, well, what's in your heart.
You bring Kleenex. You bring lots of Kleenex.
Read more: http://www.lvrj.com/sports/keith-gets-to-heart-of-matter-151842815.html
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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