MADISON, Wis. – Patrick Leigh may not be the fastest player or make the most three-pointers, but his teammates agree he plays with the most heart of any player in their basketball league, even if it is just a morning recreational league at Sauk Prairie Middle School.
Those morning games nearly ended a decade ago when Leigh learned he was in acute heart failure.
“I started having problems running up and down the basketball court and thought I might just be getting old, even though I was only in my late 30s,” he said.
In February 2015, Leigh went to see a rheumatologist, who ordered an echocardiogram of his heart. Just two hours after undergoing the test, he received a phone call from the hospital with the diagnosis and the news that eventually he would need a heart transplant. For that level of care, Leigh was referred to cardiologists at the UW Health Transplant Center.
“I’m glad I didn’t ignore the symptoms and got checked out,” he said. “While it was a serious diagnosis, the team made me feel super confident that everything would go well.”
While doctors never determined exactly what caused his heart failure, they were able to manage his symptoms through medication for several years, according to Dr. Maryl Johnson, heart failure transplant cardiologist, UW Health, and professor of medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
“Different patients have different goals and for Patrick, the goal was to stay active for as long as possible before needing a transplant,” she said. “With that in mind, our team identified medications that could ease his symptoms while keeping up with his very full routine.”
With the support of the team at UW Health, Leigh continued teaching at Sauk Prairie High School, coaching high school soccer and traveling with his wife and two teenagers. By April 2022, it was time for him to go on the wait list for a new heart.
“The hardest part about being on the transplant wait list was the unknown,” he said. “My doctors were incredibly reassuring and made me feel confident that everything would go well.”
While he waited, Leigh did his best to stick to a routine and celebrate major family milestones including his daughter’s high school graduation and move to college. However, his family and fellow teachers kept close tabs on him. He was slowing down and even having difficulty walking from his truck to his classroom.
“I was becoming frustrated because there were more and more days where I’d just sit and had no energy,” he said. “The transplant came at just the right time for all the right reasons.”
A middle-of-the-night phone call in early January 2023 was the news Leigh had been waiting for – a heart had become available. Dr. Joshua Hermsen, cardiac transplant surgeon, UW Health, led the team that completed the successful heart transplant surgery.
“Every opportunity to restore patients to good health is incredibly rewarding,” said Hermsen, who is also an associate professor of surgery at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “Knowing Patrick can travel with his family and play sports again is deeply gratifying for the entire team.”
Leigh stayed at University Hospital for 26 days following his heart transplant. He compares those early days after surgery to bringing home his first child from the hospital.
“I didn’t know what to expect or what I was doing,” he said. “All the nurses were awesome and answered all my questions, they even encouraged me to keep asking questions.”
Even though his body had to become accustomed to a new heart, Leigh recovered quickly. Three months after his surgery he was back at work, and six months afterward, he was back to playing pick-up basketball games. In July 2023, he went on a golf trip with his wife and son. The family escaped the Wisconsin winter in December 2024 to visit Hawaii.
“I’m just amazed and feel so fortunate,” he said. “I am incredibly grateful to my donor and their family as well as the amazing providers that have gotten me to where I am today.”
UW Health Transplant Center
The UW Health Transplant Center is one of just six centers in the nation actively transplanting hearts, kidneys, livers, lungs and pancreases for adults and children, with more than 20,000 organs transplanted since 1966. The center is home to the largest renal autotransplant program in the nation, as well as one of the nation’s largest living donor programs, serving kidney and liver donors and recipients. To register as an organ donor visit heroicdeed.com.
