“I knew right away that I was where I needed to be. My experience there was head and shoulders above the care I had received anywhere else.”
With an active life that included participation in college athletics, the U.S. Navy, the Marine Corps, and 25 years as a priest, Fr. Steven Clark was accustomed to helping others. But in 2014, having suffered from years of heart issues that finally required a heart transplant, Fr. Clark was the one who needed help.
A History of Heart Issues
“I started having health concerns in my 30s, and because both my mother and brother died at early ages, I decided to get a checkup,” Says Fr. Clark. He was told he had mitral valve prolapse in which the heart’s mitral valve would slip into the left atrium. A few years later he had a bout of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), a condition where the heart’s two small upper chambers beat irregularly. Soon Fr. Clark’s AFib became chronic, he then needed a pacemaker and later a defibrillator due to a VFib condition discovered after a stress test. After two valve surgeries and the third cardiac ablation, his heart rhythm specialist said he needed a heart transplant.
Once on the transplant wait list, his condition quickly worsened and he was transported to NBIMC in the middle of the night. “I knew right away that I was where I needed to be,” he said. “My experience there was head and shoulders above the care I had received anywhere else.”
Tests were done the day after Fr. Clark’s arrival, and he was told he had to remain at the hospital to wait for a suitable heart. Fortunately, Fr. Clark had the angels in his corner, as nine days later he was matched with a new heart that saved his life.
Now Fr. Clark is a Hearty Hearts Volunteer at NBIMC, helping other patients prepare for and recover from heart transplant surgery. He enters their rooms in full clerical collar, and they often do a double take when they see him. “He’s one of us—he got his heart here at the Beth too!” says another heart transplant volunteer.
Fr. Clark is a strong proponent of organ donation and thankful to the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Heart Transplant team for providing him with a healthy heart that allows him to live life to the fullest.