Heart Transplant Grants New Lease On Life To Douglasville Man

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — After being diagnosed with heart failure six years ago when he was only 44, Tyrone Baldwin’s recent heart transplant represented a new lease on life.

For Emory University Hospital, where the transplant was performed, it represented a milestone. Baldwin, 50, of Douglasville, was the facility’s 1,000th heart-transplant patient, making Emory Healthcare the first system in Georgia to reach that mark, according to a news release from the university.

“The first thing I want to do, I want to sleep in my own bed, have a nice dinner and go visit my grandmother who is 90 years old,” Baldwin said after leaving the hospital in June. The transplant was performed in May.

Baldwin was diagnosed with heart failure in 2015, according to the Emory news release. He quickly became a candidate for a left ventricular assist device (L-VAD), an implanted, battery-operated mechanical pump which helps the main pumping chamber pump blood to the rest of the body.

Baldwin received the L-VAD a year later, which helped support his heart while he lost weight in preparation for the transplant. In 2020, Baldwin underwent gastric sleeve weight-loss surgery, and in 2021 he received a new heart.

Heart failure disproportionately impacts African Americans in the United States, according to Divya Gupta, an associate professor of medicine in Emory University’s School of Medicine.

“A minority of African Americans who are eligible receive a heart transplant,” Gupta said. “We know there are many more out there who could use this lifesaving procedure.”

From July 2019 to June 2020, 72.3 percent of Emory heart transplant patients were African Americans, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. In addition, according to the Organ Procurement Transplant Network, from January 2017 through May 2021, Emory transplanted approximately 63 percent minorities with new hearts.

But “none of this work would be possible without the donors and the donor families,” said Dr. David Vega, professor of surgery in the medical school’s division of cardiothoracic surgery. “It is the incredible gift they give at a time of unexpected tragedy that helps others live.”

As Baldwin continues his recovery, the news release said, he and his family are grateful for his new heart and the donor family that chose to give so he could live.

"God had it under control, so as long as He's in control everything's alright," Baldwin said.

Read the complete story on Emory University's website.