Orange County man signs praises for organ donors

Orange County Review | Drew Jackson

After two years, Don Leake no longer has to plug in his heart when he goes to sleep at night. In Leake’s chest beats the heart of a stranger, following a successful heart transplant surgery performed last month at the University of Virginia Medical Center. Now recovering at his home in Orange, the part-time gospel musician sings the praises of organ donors, without whom he said he might not be alive much longer.

Two years ago Leake squeezed in a trip to his doctor on the way for pizza. He had been experiencing a strange pain in his chest for a couple weeks and, given a history of heart trouble in his family, wanted to check it out. The doctor told him the pizza would have to wait. Leake was told his heart was failing, that the left side of his heart had stopped working and was gradually filling with fluid and would essentially drown without medical intervention. After spending six days in Charlottesville’s Martha Jefferson Hospital, Leake was transferred to UVa’s medial center, where surgeons inserted a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to act as the left side of his heart. But Leake was told that the LVAD was only a temporary fix and that his name would be added to the heart transplant waiting list.