This is my brother, Jeffrey Savin, and he is waiting for a heart transplant.  

Jeff is 47 years old, and for 45 of those years, he was a very healthy guy, and a loving, caring Uncle to his five nieces and nephews, a wonderful sibling to me and our other brother and sisters,  and a dedicated son to our parents. 

After our mother died suddenly in May of 2013, Jeff noticed he had trouble walking up stairs.  He felt exhausted, and was short of breath when doing everyday activities.  His doctor thought it was an upper respiratory infection, and gave him antibiotics and an inhaler, but Jeff struggled on and began to feel worse and worse.  By Labor Day, his doctor had changed his antibiotics and added some more medications, but Jeff continued to get worse. He went to the ER and was admitted to the hospital.  Jeff found out he had severe cardiomyopathy, caused by Sarcoidosis. 

Sarcoidosis is an auto-immune disease where the body attacks its own tissues, damaging organs and causing granulomas to form.  In most cases, Sarcoidosis attacks the lungs and results in breathing problems.  In some very rare cases, it attacks the heart.  Jeff was one of those rare cases.  The Sarcoidosis  attacked his heart and did severe damage to it.  Jeff's heart is currently three times the size of a normal heart, is very weak, and every day is a struggle to keep going.   

Jeff’s body can’t do it alone anymore, so he has a balloon catheter inserted into his heart to help him, along  with many other medicines.  (*approx 26 different meds per day).  Jeff's heart damage is so severe that he needs a heart transplant to survive.

 Since  being diagnosed, Jeff has had nine cardiac catheterizations, two stents placed in his arteries, a pacemaker/ICD device implanted, a Hickman port catheter that was removed after 9 months when it became blocked, and a Swann catheter that also had to be removed when it became blocked.  The balloon catheter started in his femoral artery, and he had to lay still in bed for 17 days, and then they switched it to an auxillary-arterial catheter.  All of these things are helping Jeff to buy a little time until a new heart becomes available.

Jeff  now lives in the Johns Hopkins Cardiac CCU and must stay there until he gets a new heart.   Jeff 's sick leave from his employer has run out and his health insurance does not cover all the costs.  Every day that Jeff spends in the hospital adds to the medical expenses that he must pay. At the young age of 47 he has no choice but to go into medical retirement since he is too sick leave the hospital.   There is no way of knowing how long Jeff has to wait.  It may be weeks, months, or longer until a suitable donor organ becomes available for Jeff.   
The heart transplant operation costs around one million dollars - Jeff is lucky and has health insurance, but he still needs to pay hefty co-pays.

When a new heart finally becomes available, Jeff will continue to have medical expenses for post-transplant care and follow-up, and he will have to be on anti-rejection medication for the rest of his life. 

Please help Jeff while he patiently waits for a new heart,  and a second chance at life.