In 1990 at the age of 62, Herb was diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that makes it harder to pump blood throughout the rest of the body and can lead to heart failure. He was put on the heart transplant list and given a pager to wear 24 hours a day so that he could be notified if a donor heart became available. There were many ups and downs during those three years as we watched his health steadily decline.

 

In October 1993 Herb suffered heart failure at his Burbank home. Using defibrillator paddles the Burbank Fire Department and Paramedics were able to shock Herb’s heart and restart it. His heart was very weak, and he was transported to Burbank Community Hospital where he was placed into a medically induced coma until he could regain his strength. After a week of prayer and care his condition was stabilized enough to be transported to UCLA Medical Center where he spent two weeks in ICU recovering from pneumonia caused by the heart failure. He was upgraded to the number one patient in need of a heart transplant. On November 12, 1993 a match was found; a seventeen-year-old male heart at USC Medical Center had become available. After a four-hour surgery and a week of recovery at UCLA, Herb came home with a new heart. His was the 435th heart transplant performed at UCLA. A year later we celebrated his one-year anniversary of his heart transplant with almost one hundred friends and relatives in attendance.

 

Herb went on to live a very active life for another twenty years before his passing at the age of 86 on June 6, 2014.