Former Fairmont resident finds second life at Transplant Games of America
Jul. 29—FAIRMONT — The COVID pandemic shut down the Transplant Games of America in 2020 and 2021, but this weekend, hundreds of organ transplant recipients, living donors, and family members of donors will converge on San Diego for TGA 2022.
Throughout the week, donors and recipients will compete in 20 athletic and recreational competitions at the event. Those attending are celebrating more than just the week's medal-winners — TGA describes itself as a time "that transplant recipients can show the world that having a transplant is a second chance at a full, productive, and inspiring life, while also confirming to their donor families what their gift means to them."
It's an event that Greg Sabak knows well.
Sabak, 61, has lived in Morgantown since 2009, having moved there from Fairmont. He is a recipient of a heart transplant, and he celebrated six years since his surgery just this past Sunday.
Sabak's story starts in 2000, when he was applying for a job at the VA Medical Center in Clarksburg as a pharmacist. One of the requirements was a pre-employment physical, which included an EKG. The test registered some abnormalities, so the VA requested he take an echocardiogram as well.
Then, after he got the job, he was pulled aside on his first day, and asked to do a stress test on a treadmill. The echocardiogram had likewise produced abnormal results.
"I figured sure, what could possibly go wrong," Sabak said.
"It was shortly after I started on the treadmill that I got real light-headed, and collapsed."
Sabak was taken to the emergency room in a Morgantown hospital, where he was told he had suffered ventricular tachycardia.
"So that was my first day at work."
Sabak was diagnosed with nonischemic idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy — his heart was enlarged, and struggled to pump enough blood through his body.
Though he began his work as a pharmacist at the VA, he was told by medical professionals he might not be able to work for long. Sabak exceeded expectations, but was still in trouble.
"I was in a steady decline over a period of 14 years," Sabak said. "But I was able to put in 14 years of service at the VA."
In 2005, Sabak had an ICD, a defibrillator, attached to his heart. As his heart grew weaker, he started dealing with congestive heart failure.
"I had to start giving up lots of things in life that'd I'd been doing," Sabak said.
In the wake of his new circumstances, Sabak's favorite hobbies, such as bowling and skiing, seemed a distant memory. Even more, he was restricted from driving, having to rely on others for all his rides to work and elsewhere.
"You don't know how much you're dependent on a vehicle until you can't drive," Sabak said. "If you want to do something, you're on the phone, calling friends, going to your neighbors, and you have to ask 'Hey, can you give me a ride?' Which is a pain."
By 2013, his ejection fraction — the measurement of the amount of blood the heart pumps with each contraction — was a quarter of what it should be. By May 2014, it was 10% of the average. He was given an LVAD, a mechanical heart pump, and placed on the transplant list by UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing.
It was also around that time Sabak had to file for disability retirement.
"I was getting weaker and weaker and they didn't think I could function as a pharmacist any longer," Sabak said.
The health issues piled up. In February 2015, his defibrillator shocked him eight times in a row.
"At that point, you're in the danger zone."
In September that year, he developed acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis, and stayed in the hospital for weeks. Things looked dire.
In July 2016 though, he got a call. They had a heart for him.
On July 24, 2016, Sabak had heart transplant surgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. After nine days in the hospital, he was back home. Though a long road of cardio-therapy was ahead, there was also hope.
"I asked the cardiologist in Pittsburgh, 'Are there any big restrictions or anything?' and he said 'No, that's the whole point of having the transplant.' It gave me a second chance in life."
With his new heart, Sabak bowls three times a week now — twice in Morgantown, and at the Fairmont Bowling Center every Thursday. And he goes skiing in Colorado once a year.
"The first time I was able to go skiing after the transplant was with my son, Spencer," Sabak said. "We have the same birthday, January 18. When he turned 18, I said hey, the doctors cleared me to go skiing. So for his birthday we went skiing out in Colorado. I've been going skiing about every March since then."
Sabak could drive again, he could pick up his hobbies again, he could see his son graduate from Pierpont Community & Technical College in 2018, and he could travel to Salt Lake City that same year to compete in the Transplant Games of America.
Sabak won three medals at the event — a gold in Texas Hold 'Em, a silver in doubles bowling, and a bronze in singles bowling.
The medal in poker, it seems, drew the biggest reaction back home.
"That was totally unexpected," Sabak said. "Everyone I knew told me 'Wow, I didn't know you played cards that well!'"
In 2019, Sabak traveled to Newcastle, England, to participate in the World Transplant Games too. He snagged a silver medal there for good measure.
"When people ask what I was able to do post-transplant, this is one of the things," Sabak said. "Before, I had to give up traveling anywhere, and now I'm able to go around the country, go to foreign countries. I used to travel a lot earlier in my life, and it's great to be able to do it again."
With TGA restarting after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Sabak is eager to return. The competition is fun, he says, but the real meaning of his trip is to celebrate donors, and to immerse himself in a community of people with experiences much like his.
"Basically you're cheering on fellow recipients and you have a connection with everybody, because of what they might have went through," Sabak said. "I went through a lot of stuff, but I've talked to a lot of people who went through worse. And they're here to show they beat the odds.
"A lot of these events, it's things they probably enjoyed doing all their life, but then something happens, and 'Oh, you can't play tennis any longer. You can't swim any longer.' When you cut something out, you really miss it. The games are all camaraderie, friendly competition, and the medals are just a little something to bring home."
One of the things he most enjoys is the connections made throughout the week. Sabak is going as part of Team Alleghenies, which includes donors and recipients from Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Each team receives a supply of unique pins, and over the course of the competitions and events, every team is encouraged to swap pins with other teams.
"You're walking around the convention center, or at the sporting events, you see somebody from a different state, and say 'Hey, do you need Team Alleghenies pin?'" Sabak said. "And you trade with people and you get to talking to people. You figure out what kind of transplant they received, how long they've been out, what they've been able to accomplish post-transplant, and you become friends with a lot of people."
"It's a celebration of life."
Sabak has his medals displayed in his home, as well as all the pins he's traded with fellow TGA'ers.
Sabak will stay busy after returning from San Diego. One important upcoming date is in September, when his son will get married.
"You have your little list of things post-op that you want to achieve," Sabak said. "Visit a foreign country, go skiing again, and now I can attend my son's wedding."
And even with an increasing number of items checked off his list, it doesn't sound like Sabak has plans to slow down.
"Pre-transplant, I was slowly declining. After I got the transplant, it's been just a new life, basically."
One-hundred-thousand Americans are currently awaiting an organ transplant, with a new person being added every 10 minutes. In West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, 2,500 are currently waiting for an organ transplant. One individual can save up to eight lives as an organ donor. To register as an organ donor, visit registerme.org.
Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.
