TROUBLE TALKS ABOUT A HEART RECIPIENT WHO ENTERED THE U.S. TRANSPLANT GAMES 

BOBBY BOSARGE AND THAT 5K RUN

June 17, 2019

I met Bobby seven or eight years ago when he first came to Cedar Key. His uncle had been coming for thirty or forty years. This was Bobby's first visit. He liked it here and stayed. He moved here from Bayou LaBatrie, Alabama. Not unlike some others we know, in his words, "I came here to die."

            He'd had several heart attacks. He couldn't work a full time job. His heart wasn't strong enough. He helped with odd jobs and pickup work to get by. He worked mainly in the mornings when it was cooler and the sun was lower in the sky. He took frequent breaks sucking on a can of Pepsi. He and a couple others redid Don's back deck at the Captain's Table. Go look sometime. They probably used a thousand pounds of nails, maybe more, on that job. It will take a Category Five to dismantle that deck.

            Bobby met Mary, the cook at the Captain's Table. They liked each other and in '96 they married and set up housekeeping in Rosewood. Bobby, whose spirits have always been good, had a new light in his eyes though his color grew paler. He got to where he could hardly work at all.

            Then in mid-'97, I think, he had a seventh heart attack. Mary took him to Shands in Gainesville. He was there for a while. It was ironic in a way because he, as a subcontractor, had built a major new wing on Shands while he still lived in Alabama. Now that became his "other home base" for sometime. It really still is.

            The doctor came to the room to talk to both him and Mary. Bobby asked how it was. The doctor told him he had good news and bad news. "The bad news first," were Bobby's words.

            "You're going to die," the doctor replied.

            "What's the good news?" asked Bobby.

            "Would you consider a transplant?"

            Bobby paused for a few seconds and Mary broke in, "Sure, yes, yes we'll go for a transplant." Nineteen months later and a couple deeper shades of gray, Bobby had the transplant. He had gotten to the point where only twenty percent of his heart was functioning fed by only one artery which was eighty-five percent blocked.

He made it through the operation and left the hospital feeling like a new man which, in a sense, he was. His color returned. Then they discovered an aneurysm in the artery that passes through the trunk of the body and feeds that and the legs. When he was well enough from the transplant, they patched the artery. One lucky man to be alive. Ask him. Ask Mary.

            We're talking about that Bobby most of us know that gets around in a maroon Plymouth Voyager from the mid-'80s. You can catch up with him at Cypress Station or in town somewhere, often at the Brown Pelican. Through all of this he has maintained that happy look, that good disposition, and he'll talk about the whole ordeal as if it was nothing.

Sometime late last year Bobby went into a physical awareness program, and under a doctor's care, he began training. Most of us didn't know until one day in March or April of this year when he announced he had completed a 5K race, with his doctor at his side, with no problems. Can you imagine that?

            And next week, he and Mary will be in Orlando attending the "U.S. Transplant Games," at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex. This year's theme is "Donor Awareness."

            Bobby will compete in the games along with two thousand or so other athletes from fifty states who are now alive due to transplants including kidney, heart, liver, lung, pancreas and bone marrow. Bobby is registered for the 5K (3.1 mile) race, singles golf, Florida team golf representing the State of Florida and the City of Cedar Key. Urge him on with your thoughts.

            A fraction of the donations he receives goes to his expenses with most going to the National Kidney Foundation of Florida. If you choose to contribute drop your check off at the Cedar Key Beacon or mail it to: National Kidney Foundation of Florida, 1040 Woodcock Road, Ste. 119, Orlando, FL 32803. Mark the check "Bobby Bosarge, Cedar Key." Bobby says, "Thanks for you support."

            A miracle in progress. Indeed, a miracle in progress.

            Father's Day is this Sunday. I bet when you were younger your dad took you fishing or to the picture show or maybe just out for a Coke and a hot dog. So this Sunday why not take him out fishing or to the picture show or for a Coke and a hot dog. Or maybe just give him a call. Or maybe just remember for a little while.

            So, for now I need to be out there. Trouble lurks somewhere in Cedar Key and I'll be trying to find it.

            Copyright © by Gene Benedict 2019 June 17

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