Oklahoma Man Gets Heart Transplant on Birthday

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

TULSA, Oklahoma – Most people wish for health, happiness or to win the lottery on their birthdays. One Oklahoma man wished for a second chance at life and it was granted. His life changed on his birthday.

"I got a young heart so I fell like a new man," Randall Canady said.

But don't expect to see Canady running a marathon anytime soon. It's been only a little over a month since a blessing unfolded.

"I got real sick, thought it was pneumonia or flu or something," said Canady. "I was gradually getting worse; I was drowning in my own fluids."

Canady was diagnosed with congestive heart failure 10 years. It wasn't until last year he was forced to get a heart pump and was put on the heart donor list. That's when he met Dr. David Nelson, a heart surgeon at INTEGRIS Heart Hospital.

"Dr. Nelson, the man touched me cause he diagnosed me and told me what procedure we were going to do, then he prays with you to help you, he actually calls it the diagnosis of God, to help you heal," Canady said.

Dr. Nelson has treated and prayed for hundreds of patients, but none as unique as Canady.

"Randall had anticipated that he would get his heart transplant," said Dr. Nelson. "He mentioned to many members of our staff up to two weeks before the transplant that he was going to get the transplant on his birthday and in fact, he did."

On April 24, on his 48th birthday, Canady got a second chance at life. He received the new heart he waited 10 years to get.

"I needed this heart and didn't realize it," Canady said.

He's recovering in his Tulsa home, near family and friends and he says life couldn't be better.

"I feel stronger, a whole lot better," Canady said.

And like the patients before him, Dr. Nelson says Canady will go on to have a long, healthy life thanks to an incredible procedure.

"It's beyond description, it's very exciting," said Dr. Nelson. "I feel privileged to be involved in these patients' stories and watch them go from being critically ill to having a new life with a new heart."

Canady was implanted with a heart pump nine months before his heart transplant. He is quick to point out he was in his mother's womb for nine months and just like the day he was born he got a new heart on his birthday.