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A longtime Southern Indiana emergency room doctor is recovering after receiving a life-saving heart transplant during a winter storm.Dr. Stephen Kemker, an emergency physician at Ascension St. Vincent in Salem, Indiana, spent more than 30 years caring for patients in the community. But recently, he found himself in a hospital bed.”It’s like stepping off a cliff. The heart can no longer compensate,” Kemker said.Doctors diagnosed Kemker with advanced heart failure linked to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic condition that causes the heart muscle to thicken. Physicians told him a heart transplant was his best chance at survival.“They asked if we were ready for a transplant,” Kemker said. “I was like, well, we don’t really have a choice.”In December, Kemker received the call he had been waiting for: a donor heart was available. However, a snowstorm moving through the region threatened to delay the life-saving surgery. Snowplows met the transplant team at the airport, clearing a path so the heart could safely reach Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis.Dr. Kathleen Morris, Kemker’s advanced heart failure cardiologist, said the team knew time was critical.”We knew that he needed the heart and that the time was critical. So we did whatever we could within our power to get the heart here. Fortunately, it was successful,” Morris said. After weeks of recovery, Kemker was discharged home in January and continues to regain his strength. He admits it was difficult to transition from doctor to patient.”I had to accept the fact that this was a little bit beyond me, so I needed their advice and their care, and they did an excellent job,” Kemker said. Kemker and his wife, Dr. Kalen-Carty Kemker, a family medicine physician, have served the Salem community since 1993. She says their family is deeply grateful for the organ donor, who made Kemker’s second chance possible.”There’s no gratitude that you can give for that. And he’s here. Somebody did a wonderful thing for several people that night,” she added. “I hope someday we can thank them in person.”Kemker hopes sharing his story will inspire others to consider becoming organ donors. His doctors say his recovery is continuing to move in the right direction.
A longtime Southern Indiana emergency room doctor is recovering after receiving a life-saving heart transplant during a winter storm.
Dr. Stephen Kemker, an emergency physician at Ascension St. Vincent in Salem, Indiana, spent more than 30 years caring for patients in the community. But recently, he found himself in a hospital bed.
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“It’s like stepping off a cliff. The heart can no longer compensate,” Kemker said.
Doctors diagnosed Kemker with advanced heart failure linked to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic condition that causes the heart muscle to thicken. Physicians told him a heart transplant was his best chance at survival.
“They asked if we were ready for a transplant,” Kemker said. “I was like, well, we don’t really have a choice.”
In December, Kemker received the call he had been waiting for: a donor heart was available. However, a snowstorm moving through the region threatened to delay the life-saving surgery.
Snowplows met the transplant team at the airport, clearing a path so the heart could safely reach Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis.
Dr. Kathleen Morris, Kemker’s advanced heart failure cardiologist, said the team knew time was critical.
“We knew that he needed the heart and that the time was critical. So we did whatever we could within our power to get the heart here. Fortunately, it was successful,” Morris said.
After weeks of recovery, Kemker was discharged home in January and continues to regain his strength. He admits it was difficult to transition from doctor to patient.
“I had to accept the fact that this was a little bit beyond me, so I needed their advice and their care, and they did an excellent job,” Kemker said.
Kemker and his wife, Dr. Kalen-Carty Kemker, a family medicine physician, have served the Salem community since 1993.
She says their family is deeply grateful for the organ donor, who made Kemker’s second chance possible.
“There’s no gratitude that you can give for that. And he’s here. Somebody did a wonderful thing for several people that night,” she added. “I hope someday we can thank them in person.”
Kemker hopes sharing his story will inspire others to consider becoming organ donors. His doctors say his recovery is continuing to move in the right direction.
