Bob Young, a pioneering patient in the University of Washington’s heart transplant program whose determination to return to his job with the Everett Police Department provided inspiration to other transplant patients, has died.
Young, who was 68, had been hospitalized for three weeks at Kirkland’s Evergreen Hospital Medical Center after contracting a lung infection, his wife, Cheryl Young, said. He died on Saturday.
Young underwent heart transplant surgery on Dec. 5, 1986, after being diagnosed with heart failure caused by a virus. He was the 12th patient to receive a new heart at the UW, which began its heart transplant program in November 1985.
Doctors predicted at the time that without a heart transplant, Young had just a few months to live. One doctor even advised against the surgery because it was so risky. When asked if he still wanted to undergo the surgery, Young didn’t hesitate.
“I’ve got a daughter that’s going to turn 7, and I’m going to live to walk her down the aisle,” he said then.
That kind of fighting spirit was one of the qualities surgeons looked for in prospective heart transplant patients, said Dr. Dennis Enomoto, a cardiologist at the UW when Young got his new heart.
“We were careful to select people with … the fighter within them, who had not only the survival instinct but were spunky and had a great spirit,” Enomoto said.
Just 19 days after his heart surgery, Young left the UW hospital, spurning offers of a wheelchair and walking out surrounded by reporters.
He was determined to return to work, but the city of Everett at first said no. Young sued and returned to work in June 1987.
“It was unheard of to have a heart transplant (patient) as a police officer,” Young said in an interview with The Herald in October 1991. In fact, he was thought to be the first active police officer in the nation to return to work after a heart transplant without any limitations placed on his job duties, his wife said.
“After Bob fought to get his job back, he’d have a lot of younger transplant patients come to him and tell him he was inspiring,” she said. “They knew that they could accomplish any of their dreams.”
Young is survived by his wife of 20 years, Cheryl, and his three daughters, Stephanie Wilhelm of Anchorage, Alaska, and LeAnn Wallace and Angie Knox, both of Everett.
Young asked that there be no formal memorial service, his wife said. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the UW heart transplant program.
Boyd Bryant, spokesman for the Everett Police Department, was a young rookie when he first met Young in July 1983, several years before Young’s surgery.
“The Everett of that day was very much blue collar,” he said. “It was not atypical for an officer to get in a fight a day” as officers were called to break up brawls at bars.
“He was a great guy to work with,” Bryant said. “A real go-getter.
“I don’t think anyone thought he would be able to come back to work after the heart transplant,” he added. “He proved everyone wrong. It’s a great story. He was a very unique fellow.”
The extension on life Young was granted through his heart transplant surgery allowed him to experience one of his fondest wishes, his wife said, to be with his daughters on their wedding days.
“He walked the last one down the aisle in September 2003,” she said. “He was really excited. He had achieved one of his major dreams, to walk them down the aisle and see that they were happy.”
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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