Washburn man receives new heart
By Cheryl McCormack
Editor
Organ donation – life springs from death, sorrow turns to hope and a terrible loss becomes a gift.
A Washburn man recently received that gift of life, in the form of a new heart.
After years of struggling with heart disease, Gary Doepke is finally on his way to recovery.
The road has been a long one for Gary, as he not only lost his 52-year-old father to a massive heart attack, but also received not-so-good news from his very own doctors.
During the spring of 2010, Gary found himself sitting at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., surrounded by nurses and physicians.
He was told he wouldn’t make it through the summer without the implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which would help his heart pump blood throughout the rest of his body.
