“I’ve always celebrated the date of my second transplant and my first transplant. “Obviously, 30 is going to be a big milestone,” Compton said. Still fighting.Īnd on Saturday, still celebrating, even without playing. He has been told multiple times that his sports career was over, multiple times that he could no longer play competitive golf. He drove himself to a hospital after having a heart attack in 2007, seven months before his second transplant in May 2008. Those words weren’t hyperbole, and certainly don’t just apply to him playing golf. “I’ve got more pressure experience in my life in the field combined,” Compton said. He has fought and fought and fought since, and an opening round of 1-under 69 at the Honda Classic on Thursday was yet another reminder that he’s made a career out of defying absurdly long odds.Īnd Friday’s second round of 12-over was a reminder of how tough things can be for Compton. 26, 1992, when Compton - then 12 - got the first of two heart transplants, needed after he was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart becomes inflamed and cannot effectively pump blood. Instead, he’ll have to settle for it being the 30th anniversary of his getting a second chance at life. He didn’t make the cut at the Honda Classic, meaning he won’t be playing a third round at PGA National. (AP) - Erik Compton is going to have a great Saturday, even without playing golf. To the donors, whomever you are, thank you for your selfless gift.PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. We have to be thankful for the donors,” Compton concludes. All recipients carry that with them, whether it’s a living donor or not, this beautiful gift comes at the cost of somebody else. It’s not easy because there is somebody on the other side of the story. “We all have to realize the gift of life and the beauty of transplant happens with the fall of another human being. He’s also appreciative of what a heart transplant means. Unlike most of us, Compton has been blessed with three chances at life and he is appreciative every single day. He embraces the responsibility that comes with being a professional athlete who’s gone through not one but two heart transplants. Like all superheroes, with great power comes great responsibility, and Compton is no exception. Of his experience giving back to youths waiting for transplants, Compton simply says, “A lot of times the young kids are the ones who inspire me because they’re doing so many marvelous things.” Staying grateful The Erik Compton Foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support donor advocacy and education, medical-based transplant research and youth support programs. Relying on your support system is also crucial having family and friends who are there for you, as well as trusting the nurses and doctors who are taking care of you and making sure everything is as it should be, is half the battle. His advice to anyone anticipating a transplant of any kind is to be patient and to take it all one day at a time. “And I also didn’t have that many people to talk to who went through it a second time.” I was scared for other reasons,” remembers Compton. I was a young man trying to start a life and a family. At 28 years old, Compton went in for his second transplant in May 2008. With no internet in the ’90s, and not very many peers he could relate to, it was an isolating experience to say the least.īut an adult transplant was challenging for different reasons. I was very young so I was scared and excited at the same time for a new life,” Compton explains. “There weren’t as many people around that I could speak to. Luckily, he was able to hold out for a few months while he waited for a new heart. Seventeen years later, however, the main artery in the front of his heart was totally blocked and Compton suddenly needed a second transplant. Thanks to that first transplant, he was able to lead a normal and active life, and begin his astounding career in golf. When Compton was just 12 years old, he received his first heart transplant because of a dilated cardiomyopathy diagnosis at nine years old – his heart was unable to adequately pump blood as it should.
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