It's hard to describe the feeling, going from such a damaged heart to a new, properly functioning heart.”
Mati Luik was playing in his winter league tennis match in December 2019, when he felt his heart racing. He quickly lay down to avoid falling since he had collapsed on the court a year before and had to be hospitalized. Born with a heart defect, Mati had managed to live an active lifestyle, playing tennis competitively for much of his life. But it was becoming clear that his heart was failing him.
“Things were changing and deteriorating in a way that I definitely wasn’t prepared for,” says Mati.
Soon after, Mati reluctantly called his tennis game quits. But in 2022, after a routine battery of tests showed some frightening numbers, two of his doctors told him that it was time to get things in motion for a transplant.
Finally, on the last day of January, he got the news that a heart was available. Relieved and excited, Mati went into his long-awaited surgery the next day.
Dr. Yoshifumi Naka, surgical director of heart failure, cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support programs, performed the surgery. It took over three hours, but was successful, and Mati was soon in recovery.
Mati is grateful for his care, and how the entire team got to know him as a person and listened to him. He recalls the moment he was leaving the hospital: “It was so meaningful to see all the people who played a role in bringing me to this moment.”
“It’s in those moments when you struggle that really define who you are and whether you’ll be able to reach the top and be a true champion.”
“Every step the hospital took was just fantastic,” says her father, Paul. “From the nurses to the doctors, to the front desk staff in the waiting room who made sure we were comfortable during Sarah’s surgery, everyone gave us everything we needed.”