NFL Raises Voice of Columbia Heart Transplant Patients

What does 20-year-old Sam Prince keep in mind about his childhood?

“I used to be caught in a bubble for the primary eight years of my life,” Sam says in a brand new NFL360 video about his mission to boost extra consciousness of organ donation. Born with a extreme coronary heart defect that required two surgical procedures earlier than he turned 1, Sam couldn’t go to highschool throughout that point and couldn’t make lots of buddies.

That modified when Sam acquired a coronary heart transplant at Columbia at age 8, and since then he’s been working to extend the quantity of people that register to donate organs.

young man speaking into a handheld microphone on a football field — “Life of Sam,” an NFL 360 video about Columbia coronary heart transplant affected person Sam Prince, chronicles Sam’s life and mission to extend organ donation. The video, which aired for the primary time on Thanksgiving Day, options Sam and his mentee, Jayden Obregon, one other coronary heart transplant affected person of Columbia pediatric heart specialist Warren Zuckerman, MD. Click on here to observe.

Sam has raised 1000’s for the trigger with a lemonade stand and by volunteering for New Jersey’s organ donation community, and he by no means turns down an opportunity to inform his story.

And when his love for the New York Giants collided along with his mission to extend organ donation, Sam made the many of the alternative. By way of the Make a Want Basis, Sam introduced the New York Big’s first decide on the 2022 NFL draft, capturing the hearts of gamers and followers and utilizing the second to advance his trigger.

American football player standing next to two young fans — **Paying it ahead**. Columbia coronary heart transplant sufferers Sam Prince (carrying hat) and his mentee, Jayden Obregon, met Kayvon Thibodeaux of the New York Giants throughout a go to to the group’s follow facility. Photograph: Columbia College Irving Medical Middle.

Earlier this yr, Columbia pediatric cardiologists Warren Zuckerman, MD, and Marc Richmond, MD, linked Sam with 14-year-old Jayden Obregon, who underwent a transplant in 2019. Over Zoom classes—and a shock journey to a Giants follow to fulfill their favourite gamers—the boys shaped a bond over their distinctive experiences.

For Sam, mentoring Jayden is one other option to pay it ahead. Reflecting on the expertise, Sam says: “I wish to be there for somebody.”