JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An upstate New York couple is looking to spread holiday cheer to some patients at a local hospital, as they say they received an invaluable gift this year.
A new chance at life, that is how one heart recipient describes his new heart. Now he’s looking to spread holiday joy.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Playing the guitar with his wife, Sandra Olsen, is something Loren Vinal is beyond thankful for. For every breath he takes, he notes he’s able to sing thanks to what his family calls a Christmas miracle.
Christmas Day in 2017, while he was on tour in Nashville as the lead guitarist, his wife noticed something was off.
“My breathing was very labored, and she also said that I was wheezing in and out,” said Loren Vinal, heart recipient.
Sandra, who is a registered nurse, quickly took him to a hospital. He got diagnosed with heart failure on what was supposed to be one of the jolliest days of the year.
“While we think of the holidays as being all jolly and you know, sometimes you have to look a little deeper for the miracle,” said Sandra Olsen, his wife.
Vinal spent the next year on medications. He needed a heart transplant, but the only option he had at the time was a heart pump implant. He spent years in and out of the hospital, where he kept his mood up by starting a band called Troubled Hearts.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
Recently, he was able to get his new heart at a local hospital.
“I just it it’s the biggest gift that you could ever give to another person, you know, a chance at life,” said Olsen.
Now he’s enjoying that gift with his family and slowly starting to sing. But with his new gift, he wants to continue bringing awareness to organ donation, as he and Olsen both are registered donors.
They are also getting ready to spread more Christmas joy by singing to their current neighbors in Jekyll Island and patients at the hospital.
“The best Christmas gift for us is to pay it forward to people that are earlier in the process,” said Vinal.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
