GRAND RAPIDS, MI — February is Heart Month, and it’s the perfect time to share the story of a man who went through a transplant journey with a new heart and a new mission.
Tracy Gary is grateful to be alive after surviving three heart attacks, a stroke and a three-year transplant list.
“I try to live every day. I try to be positive. And…I try to pay it forward as much as I can because I can’t pay it back. But I try to pay it forward and help whoever I can.” We can help,” Gary told FOX 17 News.
Provided by: Tracy Gary
Gary underwent transplant surgery in 2018.
He also met and fell in love with his wife, Holly, during a transplant trip.
They got married in 2019.
Provided by: Tracy Gary
Holly, also a transplant patient, suddenly suffered from liver failure at the age of 21.
“I remember being in the hospital for literally three days, and then I woke up a week and a half later and I had a full liver transplant,” she explained. “I was on the transplant waiting list for eight hours compared to his three years, so yeah… it was definitely a godsend.”
They worked together to form a non-profit organization; Transplant House in West Michigan.
The couple bought a home on the northeast side of Grand Rapids and are working to make it a “home away from home” for families with loved ones undergoing transplantation.
Provided by: Tracy Gary
“Me and Holly both feel that’s why we’re still here,” Gary said. “We know the struggle, and our families know the struggle, so we’re just trying to alleviate a lot of the struggle. This is one part of the transplant process that no one thinks about. Because it’s a club.”
Currently being renovated, the home has four bedrooms, two kitchens and special needs accommodation.
Gary said it costs about $60 a night to stay.
“Hotels cost $170 to $200 per hour per night. And…families going to hotels will be broke,” he said.
He added that the sense of “community” is also a big plus.
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“Everyone here is going through the same thing as us, so it’s almost like a support group… They know what you’re going through.”
Gary said he hopes to have the home completed and open this spring.
Gary told FOX 17 that all he knows about his donor is that he is a 21-year-old Michigan resident.
He has written to the donor’s family twice and hopes to meet them someday to tell them all about Transplant House.
Click here to learn more about West Michigan Transplant House. here.
To donate to the nonprofit Paying It Forward Fund to help pay for your family’s stay, click here here.
As FOX 17 and Lake Michigan Credit Union’s Pay It Forward Person of the Month, Gary will receive a $550 prize.
Do you know someone to be named the next Pay It Forward Person of the Month? Nominate them here.
Introducing Michael and Marge Bush, January 2024’s Pay it Forward Person of the Month.
