Heart transplant patient who counseled others finally going home
Produced By: WCVB-5 (ABC) Boston
HeartBrothers Larry Williams – The Governor Goes Home
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BOSTON — SEP 6, 2017 — There will be a lot of bittersweet tears Thursday at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, where a patient who waited more than a year for a heart transplant will be discharged.
On his last full day in the hospital, one of Larry Williams’ best friends dropped by to say thank you.
The friends met as patients in the hospital’s heart unit, where the doctors and nurses say — just as much as they did — Williams saved lives.
“I am thanking him for I’m going to see my daughter get married,” friend David Townsend said.
A former college basketball player, Williams came to Tufts in the summer of 2016 with a heart so sick that he couldn’t leave until he got a new one.
“You know, the man upstairs said, ‘Just be patient,’” Williams said.
He was a patient through Christmas, New Year’s and St. Patrick’s Day.
Because he’s 6 feet 8 inches, the right-sized heart was hard to find.
Instead of counting the days, he went for walks. He met other patients and held their hands while they waited, too.
“We’d sit up and we’d talk. I’d say, ‘Look, I’ve been around the block quite a few times, and what you’re about to see or go through, I’ve been through,’” Williams said.
He not only counseled patients, he advocated for them and convinced the hospital staff that something needed to change, such as the food menu.
“He took charge, and he met with various members of the kitchen,” Linday Ordway, NP, said. “And he talked with them about recipes.”
The staff started calling him The Governor (of Tufts MC’s Heart Transplant and Cardiac Transplant Center).
Then a few weeks ago, The Governor got a call: His heart was waiting.
Williams will be leaving the hospital that’s been his home for more than year.
“Not scared. But I feel like I’m losing a family,” he said.
Original Article: www.wcvb.com/article/heart-transplant-patient-who-counseled-others-finally-going-home/12188044.
Jean Vegod says
October 4, 2018 at 4:46 pmI met Larry while my daughter was a patient at Spaulding Rehab. What an inspiration he was to SO MANY of the patients there! Refusing to be discouraged, he kept others from giving up or feeling sorry for themselves. God bless this brave, good man!
Pete Wehle says
January 28, 2019 at 5:28 pm01/28/19 Monday
What a great story about Mr. Wiliams. I too am a Heart Transplant Survivor since 2008. My lovely wife, Pamela Chappell wrote a book about our transplant journey together and it is called, quite naturally, “For Pete’s Sake.” Since my transplant, I have developed an incredible craving for chocolate and I have bee writing a great deal as well. (Here is but one example of my compositions.)
Love and Compassion and Gratitude,
Pete Wehle
IT WAS EARLY IN THE MORNING
It was early in the morning as I awoke from my slumbering sleep. I was still dreaming my dreams of a conquering hero, unafraid of the windmills and danger of living. Soon, the daylight crept slowly into my vision. It was a slow and steady stream of consciousness that awaken me to a new day. The
night was becoming day and I became enveloped in it like a cocoon ready to spread its butterfly wings. It was an all-consuming, illumination. It was a new day.
I silently thought to myself…”What good things can I accomplish with this new day I have been given? As that thought lingered in my mind, I began to fully realize the enormity that all I really needed to do was simply just be.
I did not want to be a figure of laziness but instead a giver of happiness for everyone. I don’t know why this idea popped into my head but I am certainly grateful for this perception. A perception like the gushing stream of water that rushes forth and moves all debris in front of him or her clearing their path and moving all obstacles imagined or real.
This realization of a better way of living is a gift from God, Spirit or whatever one may call it. I just call it a miracle, beyond my human conception and power of reasoning.
Today, this gift makes me so grateful to be alive. The fact that I am living and breathing the air of a wonderful existence called life. I again, think to myself that today, this blessed day, I can
make it a great day for everyone, all my fellow travelers through time.
Perhaps, this is the true meaning of the earthly expression that I am living heaven on earth if I wish it to be so. This new reality is beyond anything I could ever conceive and I become aware of this mighty power that lies deep within us all.
This new day, full of promises and hopes likens to the rays of the sun bursting and glittering forth, opening my eyes, my thoughts into a new life. I am forever grateful that I have been given this day, allowing me to make my best efforts in fulfilling my dreams.
Totally awake now, I greet this new day as the dew on the grass evaporates into thin air. What a glorious day it can be if only I open my eyes, open my new heart a little further, a little farther into this burgeoning world. This life of unceasing love and beauty that is always around me. I am ONE with all and I am that I am!
Katy Arvia says
October 4, 2018 at 5:32 pmI had the proud privilege to meet this man while we were both patients at the rehabilitation facility together. He was always a positive & nurturing person, reaching out to the “newbies” who came in. We became fast friends. He is such a wonderful person & I’m truly thrilled that he is FINALLY back at home. What a LONG journey he’s had.
Bob Romer says
October 5, 2018 at 7:48 pmOh how I approve! Larry is an inspiration to all of us!
Bob Romer says
October 5, 2018 at 7:50 pmI so do aprrove as Larry is an inspiration to all of us!
Hamid Mahdavy says
January 29, 2019 at 5:52 pmI have known the governor ( Larry Williams) for a number of years now. He was the first to talk to me about life with an LVAD while we were both a Pratt eight and later when I was hospitalized post transplant, Larry was still there . He has spent close to two years at Tufts Medical center pre and post transplant. Never down, never sad always a source of positive energy. It is a privilege to know him and team with him on Heart Brothers