Powell man gets heart transplant; Greg Benander doing well after getting new heart in Salt Lake City

Posted 12/9/14

Greg has been living in Salt Lake City, waiting for that news, since early October, when his failing heart prompted doctors to move him up on the transplant list. Meanwhile, Cheri had been waiting in Powell.

Cheri had already had a full day, …

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Powell man gets heart transplant; Greg Benander doing well after getting new heart in Salt Lake City

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After a months-long wait and enduring years of poor heart health, Greg Benander and his wife Cheri got the call they were waiting for on Saturday. Doctors had just received news that a donor heart might be available for Greg.

Greg has been living in Salt Lake City, waiting for that news, since early October, when his failing heart prompted doctors to move him up on the transplant list. Meanwhile, Cheri had been waiting in Powell.

Cheri had already had a full day, manning a table in The Commons during Powell’s Country Christmas celebration. During that time, she answered the same question many times. No, the call hasn’t come yet.

At 9 p.m., the phone rang. A possible donor heart was available.

“I’m so glad the wait is over,” Cheri said. “It’s hard to sit there and always be glancing at that phone. I kept thinking, if I can just get this out of my mind, that phone will ring. But that’s much easier said than done.”

Greg went to the hospital from the apartment where he has been living with his son, Nicholas, who has helped care for and watch over his dad during his illness.

Greg first suffered a minor heart attack in November 2010. Since then, his heart condition has continued to deteriorate due to heart rhythm irregularities.

Surgery, a pacemaker and a defibrillator all failed to solve those problems, so Greg underwent surgery in Salt Lake in June, when doctors implanted an artificial pump to assist his failing heart.

While his health improved after that, he again experienced an irregular heart rhythm in late September. On Sept. 29, he was flown from Powell Valley Hospital to the Billings Clinic hospital, where he was treated until his release on Oct. 10.

Before heading home to Powell, the Benanders stopped to eat at a Billings restaurant, where he again began experiencing problems. They returned to the Billings Clinic, and Greg was flown from there to University Hospital in Salt Lake. He remained there for another week.

Since then, he has lived in the couple’s rented apartment in Salt Lake. He went back to the hospital as soon as he got the call Saturday.

Meanwhile, Cheri went into high gear, packing and making other arrangements.

“I was just running around like crazy,” she said. She had just spent Thanksgiving at the apartment with Greg, and left some of her things there.

“I figured if I forgot something, it was probably there already,” she said.

Cheri was on the road by 10 p.m. Saturday. She arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m. Sunday.

Greg and the new heart both underwent testing on Saturday and Sunday. When all the tests came out positive, the surgery was a go. Cheri said Greg was very positive Saturday about the upcoming transplant surgery.

“He just said, ‘You know what, I’m ready to get this over with. Let’s do this,’” she said. “I didn’t see any fear or apprehension. ... He said if he had been feeling better over the last month or so, it might have been harder.”

Greg was wheeled into surgery at 3 p.m. Sunday; the doctor came to tell Cheri it was over at 11 p.m., though she received updates throughout the transplant surgery.

During the surgery, doctors removed Greg’s diseased heart, his pacemaker, his defibrillator and his artificial heart pump, then put in a new, healthy heart.

At 6 a.m. Monday, he was taken back to surgery to find the source of a bleeding problem. The doctor found the problem and cauterized the area, and Greg appeared to be doing well as of early Monday afternoon, Cheri said. He would remain on a ventilator until he could be weaned from it, probably sometime later Monday afternoon or evening, she said.

Cheri expressed gratitude for the support the couple has received from people in Powell, and from the medical teams that have evaluated and treated Greg.

“I just can’t say enough about the staff and teams,” she said. “It is a huge group of people, and over the last 24 hours the amount of things they have done for us has been incredible.”

After the long wait came to such an abrupt end, Cheri said she and Greg have gone through a gamut of emotions.

“Yesterday was this day of so much ups and downs,” she said Monday afternoon. “On one side, we’re extremely excited — he finally got a heart! — on the other side, someone is losing a family member,” Cheri said. “When the surgeon was boarding the plane to go harvest the heart, it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, that poor family is saying goodbye.’ It was quite an emotional day for us for lots of reasons.”

Greg is expected to remain in the hospital for another two weeks and must remain in Salt Lake City for six months.

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