Walkers rally for heart patient's second chance at life
By Romano Cedillos
Diversity Institute Fellow
11.08.02
After suffering his fourth heart attack on his son’s fifth birthday on Oct. 14, 2001, Michael Prescott found himself lying in a bed at Vanderbilt University’s Page Campbell Heart Institute wondering if he would live or die.
He was diagnosed with Idiopathic Cardiomyopathy — heart failure of an unknown origin — and doctors determined he needed a heart transplant to even stand a chance of survival.
That’s when he met the man who helped him rally his moral strength and courage. Jerrel Brown had been in the hospital for six months awaiting a heart transplant. He and Prescott soon became good friends.
“During my stay in the hospital I had some dark and depressing days,” Prescott said. “Jerry had a way of lifting me up. He proved to be my daily inspiration to continue my fight for life.”
Brown died earlier this year, 12 days after receiving a transplant. But on Sunday, Oct. 20, just more than a year after being admitted to the Heart Institute, Prescott and his wife Emily honored Brown during the Nashville-American Heart Walk by organizing a group of 75 friends and coworkers to raise money in remembrance of him for the American Heart Association.
The group, called Hearts of Tennessee, was among thousands of participants completing the three-mile walk, which began at the intersection of Natchez Trace Parkway and Capers Avenue on the Vanderbilt University campus.
Organizers said the Nashville walk draws the largest numbers of walkers in the state and the fifth largest in the nation.
“Nashville has been very giving, and we attribute much of that to Vanderbilt,” said Karen Giorgio, communications manager for the Middle Tennessee office of the American Heart Association. “We raise more money than Atlanta.”
Prescott said the tests, treatments and his heart transplant would not have been possible without the type of fund-raising done by the American Heart Association.
He left the hospital on Dec. 20, 2001, with his new heart and a second chance at life. Brown developed an infection following his transplant and died on March 26.
Brown’s widow, Nancy, said the 11 months her husband spent in the hospital turned out to be a positive experience. The couple lived in Cleveland, Tenn., and was married for 39 years.
“We looked at the other patients as family,” she said. “We depended on each other. Jerry would do everything to get others’ minds off of (their situation), and he also loved to pray for people. Jerry won. He got his heart. We gained in the end, and it was all worth it.”