Minister celebrates 19 years with heart transplant

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Reverend Tom Chapman, 62, has been a pastor for 36 years.

"I was 16 when I first preached. I don't know if I've improved that much," he joked.

He was working at the First Church of the Nazarene in Decatur when he had his first heart attack in 1985. He was 37 years old.

Chapman recovered from the heart attack and was transferred to Eastview Church of the Nazarene in Anderson. In 1991, Chapman had his second heart attack at age 43.

"I called my cardiologist, who was in Fort Wayne, and told him what happened. He said I should come up there. When I got there, they didn't let me leave. I had 15 percent heart function at that time," Chapman said.

He was put on the heart transplant list. For three months, he waited in the hospital. At one point, he said, his heart function got down to one percent. But, his faith kept him going.

"It was the people praying for me and the encouragement the hospital staff gave me. The doctors, the surgeons, the nurses; they're very positive people and that keeps you up so you don't get depressed," Chapman said.

Then one Friday night, his prayers were answered.

"They woke me up around 10 p.m. and all around my bed there were nurses," Chapman said as he choked back tears. "They said, 'Tom, we found a heart.' And when I woke up, to be honest with you, it looked like angels."

Chapman's surgery went well.

"Dr. Peterson took out my heart and it fell apart. It just melted in his hands. He had never had a heart do that before. They were guessing I was about a week from death," Chapman said.

He had a pacemaker put in after the transplant, and went home about three weeks after surgery.

"One month later, I was back in the pulpit," he said. "Which wasn't necessarily the smartest thing I ever did, but I needed to do that."

His sermon that morning was about never knowing what tomorrow brings.

Because Chapman had a transplant, he's been able to watch his two grandchildren grow up and his ministry, he said, has flourished.

"I've talked to so many people who are going through [a transplant] or other serious illness and it has helped me communicate with the very sick," Chapman said.

He still takes some medication, but not a lot, and he visits Lutheran every eight to ten weeks for a check-up. But, 19 years later, 'Pastor Tom's' heart is still beating strong.

"People usually ask me, 'How long are you going to live,'" he said. "But, there's no time limit on how long. I can live until God takes me home."

Chapman knows his heart came from a 33-year-old woman in southern Indiana, but he's never met the donor family.

"I would say to them, 'I want you to take a look at me and what has happened in my life and the ministry that I've been able to carry on. Your daughter or wife or whoever it was did not die in vain," he said.

Since having his transplant, Chapman said he's touched thousands of lives. Many of the people in his congregation have been inspired to see a cardiologist or become organ donors.

"I would urge everyone to be an organ donor," he said. "You can have a good life if someone would just donate. I don't know if there's a better gift to give someone."