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I'm David Huizar.

What if you needed a new heart or a new kidney or a new liver?

What if you needed a bone marrow transplant?

You most likely have to depend upon the gift of giving a selfless act from someone else to help keep you alive.

Hearts, livers, bone marrow.

These are scarce resources.

What if there were no donors who could possibly save your life?

Hundreds of thousands of Americans each year depend upon their unselfish neighbors, who choose to give of themselves to help those recipients in need.

This symbiotic relationship is vital for the health and well-being of so many individuals, whose life depends upon a transplant.

And joining me now to discuss all of this are two amazing people.

Jeff Costa del ski received a new heart from a donor about ten years ago, and Brandon Maulvi recently donated his bone marrow to save the life of a young woman.

Thank you both for being here.

Oh, what's your pleasure?

You know, this is really Jeff and Brandon.

It's such a great representation of the gift of giving Jeff.

You received a gift, Brandon.

You gave a gift.

So, Jeff, let's begin with you.

Take a few minutes to share your story.

It's an amazing story.

Back in 2014, if I'm not mistaken, you were in your 40s and you were very sick.

Something was wrong.

What happened?

Jeff?

Well, basically what happened was I was feeling terrible and couldn't figure it out.

The losing energy went to the doctor.

The doctor said, hey, you have pneumonia.

So.

Okay.

Did some meds that didn't work.

Went back, said, okay, we'll try.

This didn't work.

Went back.

And then, now we're into 2015.

Still not feeling the greatest.

And I got up one morning, went and didn't tell my wife.

So I figured I would just let her sleep and I would go to the doctor and go to work.

And I went to the doctor and he looked at me, did one test and said, you have to go to the emergency room right now.

So, yeah, that that's really what it boils down to.

And, and I went to the emergency room, got checked in, called my wife, who was not happy that I didn't have her with me.

And she came and met me there.

And in a matter of 2 or 3 hours, I was admitted, into the hospital and admission and, found out within a week of not ever having a heart problem, ever having anything diagnosed that I was going to be needing a heart transplant.

So, that's a little bit of a world shaker there when you when you think about it.

What happened after that?

There this is an amazingly unbelievable story in the sense that you were misdiagnosed.

No one knew what was going on with you.

And then all of a sudden, you're in the hospital.

So get us from that part of the story.

Well, I was supposed to have an angiogram.

They were going to do a bypass.

And I remember waking up looking at the doctor, and he's leaning over my bed, which never is a good feeling.

And he goes, well, we couldn't do a bypass.

You need a transplant.

And, that was shocking.

Went back to the room, talk to my wife.

We started a whole process of testing an MRI and cardiac MRI, and this is all over, Valentine's Day weekend.

So that was a wonderful Valentine's Day present.

And, did did a bunch of tests.

And one of the beautiful things was the doctor that was taking care of me at Mission Hospital here in and where I live, in Southern Cal.

What worked with one of the best heart doctors there is.

And he called this doctor up and got me transferred up to you.

Ask, via ambulance.

I was checked in, spent a bunch of a couple of weeks getting tested on every single possible level you could ever imagine.

I'm diabetic on top of it.

So there was extra testing there.

And, one of the neatest things is my the the gal that was assigned to me, she was kind of my my voice for the hospital.

She told the doctor, who was a little leery because, again, like you said, these are very rare, oh things that are available.

And the doc, she told the doctor, you have to meet him.

She said he has people there all the time.

He's got men and women supporting him from his church, and you have to meet him.

And so the doctor came and met me right after my wife left, of course, and we chatted for 20, 30 minutes.

And the doctor after that told her you were right.

I didn't need to meet him.

It was very important for me to meet him, and I was put on to the transplant list.

Upon successful completion of all the tests to make sure I was a viable candidate.

Now, your heart was so decompensated that there was no other way but to get this heart transplant.

Jeff.

Yeah, because when I woke up after that initial surgery, they looked at me and they said there was nowhere to transplant their heart to.

There's no where to bypass to.

He said, you need a transplant 90 a large percentage of your heart is necrotic, which means dead.

And it's and the way I, with my heart was formed in the in the womb.

My one valve was larger than it should have been by about 50%.

And he said that change that that alteration in my formation allowed me to live at least 10 to 15 years longer than I would have without issue.

That carried the load.

And as that one started to narrow, that's when my pneumonia, which was cardiac pneumonia, began blood pooling in my lungs.

And that's what caused all the issues.

My, you know, the one doctors would come and look at it and they'd say, descending aortic, is blocked.

He should be dead.

And that's called the Widowmaker.

Typically, if that's blocked, you die.

But because of the way my heart was built, it carried the load for an extra amount of time.

So how does this all work?

I mean, are you on a national heart registry list?

Is there some kind of transplant list?

And then I'm guessing, obviously there are thousands of people nationwide on this list.

So how are you able to be prioritize, you know, fast track to get a new heart.

But the one of the things was, is the, the procurement agent, which is a weird phrase for somebody who looks for human hearts or organs was wonderful in her job.

She knew exactly how the system worked.

She knew what she needed to do.

When I went in, my ejection fraction was, low 40s, maybe 41%.

And there were two other men ahead of me with my blood type A positive, and they sent me home for a little bit, but they put me on a list.

And then they called me back in, on the list in early June.

This was March when I was sent home.

They called me back in early June because now they wanted me there because they would put a Swan IV in your neck, and that goes right into your heart, and it sends readings to this list so they can see your stats, how you're doing.

And it prioritizes you.

And as people get hearts or for other reasons they fall off that aren't fun dimension.

You rise up that list and eventually I got to the top of the list and was, had a heart made available to me in the first heart.

Actually, when it arrived, they hadn't been able to test it, and it was bruised, so they weren't able to use it.

They had me already, and I couldn't have.

I couldn't get the heart because it was damaged.

And then two days later I got the heart.

But I have now.

One last question before we get to Brandon.

So how does this work?

In other words, does insurance pay for or do you pay for some of it?

Does the hospital absorb the cost?

There's a lot of different ways it's paid for one, one of the ways it was paid.

We had a lot of friends that did some fundraising for me, in the community.

Huge part of it.

Huge part of it.

My insurance paid a humongous portion.

This surgery, all in all, was about $4.5 million from start to end.

Wait wait wait wait.

It was $4.5 million.

Yes, yes.

Without just all the doctors charges, all the.

I mean, I was in the hospital for eight weeks, in intensive care.

That's an expensive place to be.

All the medicines, all the tests, all the all the surgical procedures of putting the IVs in my neck and everything else, it everything adds up, as we all know.

And and I always prayed, you know, for people that don't have insurance, because if you don't have insurance, you're kind of you're going to struggle, or you may not even be approved because you need to have the financial backing to pay for this, too.

That's one of the things they check because it is such a scarce resource.

And that was explained to me multiple times.

So where do you get that money?

Who has $4.5 million?

This is a place I don't think anybody does.

I don't know where other people do.

I was just very blessed to have wonderful insurance through my wife's employer.

I had wonderful friends and church goers who raised a lot of funds for me through events at their houses and go fund me, and it was remarkable because I still had to pay.

You know, insurance pays a lot, a majority, but I still had to pay a bunch of expenses and, and and I wasn't working.

My wife was only able to work part time because she had to be at the hospital with me.

And so it was it was a hard time.

I had, you know, my two boys were still at home, one who just graduated high school.

So, we had to keep the household running, too.

And, you know, my two daughters, you know, are off in another part of the country.

One's in car, one is in college, is graduate, and another has a job with children.

So it was remarkable.

And when I think of the blessings that were put upon me and put in my path long before I needed them, I know there's always a plan.

I know there's always, God's hand in it.

So.

Well, Brandon, you had a plan.

You had an amazing plan.

What compelled you to decide to donate your bone marrow?

Because, like, Jeff, you have a great story as well.

Share that with our viewers.

I mean, well, Jeff, I mean, what an insane story and for what you had to go through, I was just, I mean, and on the family level, I think probably just putting things in perspective, kind of like with his story, my situation, all I'm doing is literally just giving something of mine.

How it started was I would donate blood at work, like most companies, and it was just an easy way to get a break, you know, in a cookie and, you know, then they'd asked, hey, would you like to do a cheek swab for the opportunity to possibly donate, you know, bone marrow?

And I thought nothing of it at the time.

And fast forward, you know, 13, ten, 13 years later, I get something, a certified letter in the mail saying, hey, Brandon, you're a match.

Are you still interested for a 27 year old female?

Of course.

Originally, I was taken aback by it.

I didn't know what it was.

I thought I was probably getting scammed on some account.

And then I got another letter.

So, you know, after the ceremony, I called and they said, hey, you, you did a cheek swab at this location, or is this something you might be interested in doing?

There's a 27 year old female was very much not really given the information on who it was.

Just a 27 year old female who had a rare blood disorder who was in need of bone marrow.

Would you be interested?

So that's how I processed it.

The billion dollar question, though, and I want to get back to more of the process.

Why did you do this?

Why did you donate?

I read a bit about bone marrow donors.

And, you know, you could have had serious side effects with your bone marrow donation.

You were taking a risk.

I'm not sure if our viewers know how serious that was.

Brandon.

Yeah, at the time, I wasn't really aware either, was just.

Hey, do you want to help?

Will you do this?

Go down this this rabbit hole?

I'm, I'm a father of four.

Let me and my wife make it happen together.

Just the two of us, you know?

So when originally I was like, yeah, it's something I want to do.

I want to, you know, the ability to help somebody else is really what kind of garnered me.

It's just the right thing to do.

I always it was never an idea of why am I not going to do this?

It was just like, how am I going to make this happen?

You know, how can we do this?

My backstory kind of maybe pushed it once I found out blood cancer was involved.

You know, my wife, of 15 years, she unfortunately lost both parents to cancer.

You know, that my her mom wasn't there for her and her wedding.

She didn't get to see her in her white gown.

And, you know, for anybody who's ever lost anybody to cancer, they in families, people, they understand the struggle is real.

And it takes a toll on everybody, even after they're gone.

So honestly, when I was given this opportunity to to help somebody else, I knew I immediately had to take advantage of it.

My wife was scared, I was scared, but we just looked at each other and we both said, if somebody could have helped your mom or somebody could help your dad, and they said, no, like, how could we be those people?

Like, we have to do this, how can we do it?

And then I had to go through all these steps to make it happen.

Both of you are so amazing.

Brandon.

Lastly about that, do you know who this young 27 year old woman is the recipient of your bone marrow?

Have you made contact with her?

Try to talk with her.

So they really kind of keep you in the dark about this, which I think is probably a good thing on some levels because I just know a 27 year old female rare blood cancer and that the you know, when I went to the surgery date, the only thing I did find out, which I probably wasn't, should even I found out was I got there at five in the morning, you know, you see your organ donor, you know, chest.

They're waiting and, they're like, we're going to take two wine bottles of bone marrow out of your body, and we're going to put it under this ice chest, and we're going to ship it to Ohio.

So the only thing I'm aware of is that this is a 27 year old female.

I don't know if she has kids, but I just know that the surgery took place in Ohio, where she was at.

And Jeff, you are carrying around someone's heart.

What is that story?

Whose heart is.

It?

Well, the only thing I know, and much like Brandon was saying, the only thing I know is when he passed away, he was a 25 year old, injured in a motorcycle accident in northern part of this northern part of California.

And that's all I knew.

And it's up to the family to decide to reach out.

And I understand that 100%, but it it was such a gift.

And, Brandon, thank you for your gift because because I appreciate the gift every day.

And it's allowed me to walk my daughters down the aisle to see my grandchildren grow and be born, and to become a deacon in the church and to baptize little babies and do all kinds of things in service of others.

So that that is such a huge thank you.

But it's it's a strange feeling when I woke up to realize that I didn't have the heart.

I was born with, and I always, I always teased my wife that I had, I had she had, I had to learn to love her twice because, you know, I had convinced my second heart, the lover.

Do.

And that wasn't that hard.

It it was automatic.

So, but that's always the joke, and and I always say I have a second birthday, so I get to celebrate two birthdays.

In my, in my life.

So I'm very blessed.

It's it's such a blessing that this family, had the wish or the young man had the wish to share this gift.

I can't say thank you enough.

And I would love.

I still haven't met them.

I would love to meet them and to tell them all the impact has had in my life, and that their son's heart is still beating in my chest and letting me do all these things.

These are the I'm part of their family.

So how are you going to go about meeting them then?

I've submitted letters periodically, to the board and then the board.

I don't know what they do.

It's their call.

And I'm going to totally respect that because it's a it's a very private, painful circumstance.

And, when the time comes and God willing, I know will, I'll be grateful.

So I just submit my letters and just in to say my intention of of desiring to meet them and to share my story with them so they get to know what their gift man.

So it's kind of interesting because from the vantage point of being the, the member from, once you donate, you'll get a periodic update from three months.

You're supposed to get an update, where you can reach out through correspondence, but through their doctor.

So, I mean, I've sent a note just saying, hey, you're in my thoughts.

I hope you're healthy.

Everything is gone because at the end of the day, she's going through something way greater than what I'm going through.

When I when it was explained to me, when you're about to get the bone marrow, what the patient has to undergo is rigorous, rigorous drugs to basically kill her immune system before the surgery.

So when they take my bone marrow and they put it inside of her, it's able to just flourish because there's no immune system to fight it.

So there wasn't, it became it was stressful at the end because, you know, it was like, hey, you don't get sick trying not to get sick.

Your surgery dates here, if you're sick, I can't.

You know that.

She has no immune system.

If you back out, this can be detrimental to her.

She probably won't.

She probably won't live if you know.

So, it was definitely a high stress moment.

And somebody don't take lightly for what that person had to go through.

All I had to do was show up and do a 90 minute, you know, get knocked out and do a surgery and then, you know, just being a little bit of pain.

You know, for, for a couple of days, honestly, I mean, this person's still going through it.

And, I mean, I really wish I could talk to her and and, you know, give her some kind of, you know, I really can't do anything for her.

And that's what that really kind of just sucks, you know, because I understand the toll that it's taking on her family and herself.

You know, because I've seen it firsthand and.

But I just really hope I'm able to that it's able to save her life, you know?

Listen, truth be told, Brandon, don't don't minimize your story.

You are an extraordinarily modest person.

You know, anytime you go and have a surgery where you're under anesthesia for an hour and a half, anything can happen, as you know.

And so your bravery and your heroism, is exemplary.

What is it like, Brandon, knowing you, save someone's life?

I don't feel any different.

I don't think that I, I just to me, it was a no brainer because it's just the right thing to do.

I think just as humans, we sometimes, you know, we get caught up in our own struggles so often that we forget that other people are struggling and, you know, I mean, it's I mean, it's just it's just so easy to to lose sight of that.

And just to me, again, it was just it wasn't it was never an idea of me not doing it.

It was just the idea of how can we get it done.

Jeff, you are walking around with someone else's heart.

What is the emotion with that?

I mean, that in itself is crazy.

Just, knowing that you have someone's heart.

It's it's crazy.

And my friends always ask.

And people that find out I had transplant like, oh, do you have any weird cravings?

Oh, do you know, I, I always disappoint them because I say, no, you know, not not that I'm aware of.

I haven't changed, you know, my preference for foods or anything.

But it is a weird feeling.

My wife told me when I woke up.

She said for the first time in years, she didn't realize how bad it was until she saw the pulse in my neck.

Like, literally beating through my neck like she can see it trying to.

It felt like it was trying to escape.

It was.

That's how strong the heart was that I received.

It's also interesting, because you have the heart.

I think you said it was a 25 year old young man.

He was in a car crash and, Motorcycle.

Not motorcycle.

Thank you.

And his family.

It seems to me they they would want to meet you because their son lives on in you.

You know what I'm saying?

I do, I I'm a dad like Brandon.

I'm a dad of four.

If that was the case, and I was given that opportunity to do the gift, I would want to know them.

But I'm not.

It's nothing that I'm.

There's no judgment, I don't know, the situation might be very hard.

It might be traumatic.

He might.

Maybe he doesn't have a family left anymore.

I don't know, but if there is a family that's out there and happens to see this, please know it has given me so many wonderful things, this gift.

And and I would love to get to know you if, if, if you're like, oh, I know that name because it's a letter, I would love to chat with you and just tell you the importance of what you did to me and my family, and to my friends and and to everybody that I get to serve on a daily basis.

Brandon, you really want to meet the young woman you saved, right?

You know, in the beginning, I honestly really did it because I, I mean, I was even apprehensive of doing this just because the idea where it's like, I know what I did and it was the right thing to do.

So the idea was, I would feel bad about meeting this person where she felt like she was indebted to me or owed me a thank you or gratitude was just like, no, I mean, it would I would hope that you would do it for the next person and, and so forth.

But then I did think about the idea that, you know, like Jeff is explaining where he was just like, man, you know, I almost don't have closure because I really want to tell this family, thank you for the gift that you gave me.

You know, for my family.

And the realization is that this woman could have that same feeling as well.

And it would be kind of it would be disingenuous for me not to allow her if she wanted to me to, to get to talk to me because, you know, I would want her to have that closure as well.

And, and so now I, I honestly would like to meet her if she wanted to meet me, I would totally be open to it and just let her know, like, hey, you don't owe me anything, you know?

I mean, it's no different than holding that for me.

It's so weird.

I look at it as, you know, doing the right thing is the zig zag on the freeway, like, you know, let this car go first, then you go for it.

Just it's a no brainer to help somebody.

You know?

And for the record, I have to tell our viewers, I met you recently, and we were just having a conversation, and and somehow we morphed into the bone marrow transplant.

And me being a reporter and being such an insanely curious person, I ask a million questions.

I never shut up.

I'm sorry about that.

I know you remember our conversation, and I was just fascinated because I do think it takes a certain kind of person to put themselves in harm's way to give to others.

And I sort of coerce you to be on this program.

And you reluctantly said yes.

You did not look for any type of fame.

And so I just want to be clear that you're an extraordinarily humble and unassuming person.

Jeff, I want to get back to one thing you said.

You said you are studying to be a deacon or you are a deacon in the Catholic Church.

I ask that because does any of that have to do with the fact that you have a new lease on life, or were you always a person of faith?

Well, you know, honestly, I had been investigating my faith, digging into my faith, discerning right before I had the issue, and I had started the program for formation to become a deacon, which basically is a servant to your servant.

That's what diaconate means.

And I had to drop out because I was too sick to continue.

But during my time in the hospital, I had a deacon in LA that came and brought me the word, brought me the Eucharist, and was there for me, and it just reaffirmed exactly what I was chasing and what God was calling me to.

It's deepened my faith, strengthened my faith.

When somebody is in the hospital looking at the wall at three in the morning and you're by yourself, I don't know what you lean on if you don't have some sort of faith belief.

And I pray for everybody that's in that situation, whether you do or don't, I will pray for you.

And visiting in the hospital to me is very important.

And being a deacon in the Catholic Church, I get to do all those kinds of things.

I get to go to the prisons, I get to go and work in the hospitals, and I get to serve and baptize babies and married couples and, and do all this wonderful works.

And this transplant has allowed me to complete my, my formation, continual, of course.

But I was ordained in 2021.

So I'm coming up on three years of being a deacon here in the Orange diocese.

And it is such a blessing to be able to serve and and sometimes just seeing them for what they're going through.

Because I was in that bed, I was in that situation and it, it it's remarkable opportunity.

I have 30s for both of you.

Last question for each of you very quickly, Jeff, what is the prognosis for someone who has a heart transplant?

Well, my doctor said as long as I do what I'm supposed to and my do's and don'ts list my do or die list, as he called it, I'll be fine.

I take my immunosuppressants.

I'm immunosuppressed for the rest of my life, so I'm careful.

I have Covid five times, but it is what it is.

My team took care of me.

But as long as I do what I supposed to, I will live in something else my doctor told me.

Will will kill me eventually, long before this heart will give out if I do what I'm supposed to.

And, Brandon, what is your final message for, let's say, other people who might be on the fence about donating, let's say a liver or a kidney, or in your case, the bone marrow, anything like that.

Honestly, I just think that the gift of giving, almost like this segment here is it just really is something special.

You know, to just know that you can make a difference.

I mean, just with a simple act of kindness.

I mean, it's pretty, pretty incredible, that you are that if you're on the fence of it.

I mean, I don't see why the reason would be not to do it, you know?

I mean, it just.

I'm at a loss for words right now.

I'm just.

I'm really trying to think of why I can't think of a reason why you shouldn't do it.

You know, honestly.

I don't know how to thank both of you.

This was such an amazing segment.

Thank you so much, Jeff.

Because of our skin.

Pleasure.

Good.

My pleasure.

This is a great interview.

Thank you both so much.

Now for more information about our program just click on cox.org and then click contact us to send us your questions or comments, even your story ideas so we can hear from you or contact me directly at.

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I'm David is are.