Despite two bouts of rheumatic fever as a teen, which caused damage to Randy’s heart, sports and fitness have always been part of his life. As an adult, he played semi-professional baseball for a year in Phoenix, participated in a slow-pitch softball league, lifted weights, practiced archery and shot firearms.

However, as an adult, Randy began suffering from fatigue, loss of appetite and a declining desire to do what he loved. Over the next four years, his condition continued to deteriorate, Randy’s heart was giving out and he was just days from death. To save his life, doctors removed his failing heart and replaced it with the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH).

“We put it off longer than we should have,” Randy admits. “I was young and active, so we kind of underestimated my heart failure.”