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CBN.com – Scott Brown loves the outdoors and has a passion for extreme sports. He thrives on the adventure and has competed both as a triathlete and in marathon bike races.
“I just like to be out in the fresh air,” Scott says. “I like to be out in nature. I’d rather be outside than sitting indoors doing something.”
As much as Scott loves the outdoors, he says he learned to love something else even more: his life and his relationships. That’s because in April of 2003, Scott nearly lost his life when his heart began to malfunction.
According to doctors, Scott had a dilated cardiomyopathy which means that his heart was failing to pump blood the way it should. It weakened him, making it difficult for Scott to breathe.
Doctors gave Scott less than 24 hours to live unless he received a new heart via a heart transplant.
When I heard that Scott just had 24 hours to live and that he needed a heart immediately,” recalls Scott’s friend, Chris, “it was extremely devastating.”
“My biggest fear was not being there for my family,” Scott remembers. “I didn’t have a fear of dying because I’m going to heaven. But I was scared about not being there for my kids and how they would turn out.”
Scott’s wife, Marissa, has always been a big fan of her husband’s athletic abilities, but all she could think about was losing him. She couldn’t imagine how she would tell their two young daughters that their father could die.
She could barely stand to see him so sick. “I didn’t think he was going to come home,” she says. “But I just kept trying to put a smile on my face when I saw him. It didn’t look good.”
With the clock ticking, Scott needed a heart within 24 hours, or he would die… but the chances of finding a donor on such short notice were slim. And there were people ahead of him on the list.
Hearts are very scarce. According to a doctor, currently there are about 3,000 patients on the heart transplant waiting list in the United States. Up to about 20 percent of these patients die on the waiting list prior to having a heart transplant.
So Chris and his family asked everyone they knew to pray for a miracle. They even called The 700 Club asking God to provide a heart before it was too late.
Within minutes of praying, a heart become available, and a few hours later, Scott underwent the delicate surgery to remove his damaged heart. Doctors replaced it with a gift of love from an 18-year-old donor.
Two years later, 36-year-old Scott Brown is healthy and back doing the things he loves, spending time with his family, and pushing himself to the limits as an outdoor sports enthusiast.
“I just think about the sacrifice and the gift that this family [made],” Scott says about his donor. “It had to be the toughest decision in the world, and I think about the gift that God gave us with His Son. It's very similar.
"I’m just so grateful and so thankful to be here and see my kids make another year. To me that's just by the grace of God."
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
