As founder and pastor of Iron Horse Gathering in Mexia, Texas, James Murphy
had ministered to people at bike rallies for decades, and finally founded his own
congregation eight years ago. Meeting at the Mexia VFW every Sunday morning,
Mr. Murphy lifts the spirits of many, but in 2011 he found his own belief being tested.
fter experiencing several
strokes and the implantation
of pacemakers to regulate his
heartbeat, he was left feeling exhausted
just by performing his daily activities.
When Mr. Murphy came home from
work, all he could do was get in bed and
fall asleep, depleting the family time that
he cherished with his toddler daughter,
MacKenzie, and his wife, Alicia.
Mr. Murphy, then age 47, learned
from his Waco cardiologist that his
heart was failing; it was functioning at
only 19 percent capacity. “My doctor
said, ‘James, there’s not anything more
I can do for you.’ Then he told me
Scott & White had started doing heart
transplants, and said that’s what I
needed,” Mr. Murphy says.
A
The path back to health
Three days later, Mr. Murphy was at
Scott & White Memorial Hospital
in Temple, being evaluated for a new
heart, an intensive process that took
several days. The waiting period for a
compatible donor heart can stretch for
months or even years. The rigorous
process initially requires a clinical
assessment of patients, and sharing that
information with the governing body
for organ transplantation, the United
Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
UNOS undergoes a complex match
process for a compatible donor heart
that’s based on blood type, medical
urgency, geographic location, and age
of the waiting patient. Mr. Murphy’s
wait time was more than three years,
consistent with the time frame that
some patients can expect as they
wait for a donor heart. For much
of that time, he had to live in the
hospital, and so he relied heavily on
friends and family not only to keep his
church going, but also to help care for
his daughter.
“For two years I barely saw her—
just a few times through the glass,”
Mr. Murphy says, recalling the
extensive hospitalization stays he
endured. MacKenzie was just two years
old at the time, and it would be another
two years until her father would be
home permanently. This time proved
to be an enormous challenge for the
Murphys, as Mrs. Murphy would work
during the day, care for their daughter,
then drive to Temple to stay with her
husband each night, and drive back to
Mexia for work the next morning.
“My wife, our family, and our
friends helped us so much, and they
never gave up on me,” Mr. Murphy
says. But there was a time when he
almost gave up on himself.
By the time his 48th birthday
passed in early 2012, Mr. Murphy had
been on the transplant waiting list for
more than a year. One day a friend of
his from the hospital, another patient
also waiting for a heart, got the call
that one was available. Mr. Murphy,
although happy for his friend, was
angry that it wasn’t his turn. “I kept
thinking, ‘He was only on the list for
months, and I’ve been on it for years.’
So I went up to Scott & White and
just sat there until 3:00 a.m. I was mad
the whole time.” He decided he would
stop using the portable heart pump,
called a left ventricular assist device, or
LVAD, that had kept him alive for the
previous year. “I told my family and
friends that I was done. I was going to
turn in the LVAD pump and say goodbye,” he says.
Turning point
That Sunday, though, proved to be
a gift. After Mr. Murphy preached
his own funeral to his congregation
and went to a somber lunch with his
family, he got a call. It was from Scott
& White, and they had good news.
“They said, ‘James, this is your
sw.org | December 14 THE CATALYST
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