Pete Thalmann

Photo courtesy of Pete Thalmann

Many families gather 'round the dinner table on Thanksgiving to express gratitude for their blessings. Pete Thalmann has had something extra to be grateful for on Thanksgiving Day in recent years. He received a new heart on Thanksgiving Day 1997.

"I'm more aware of and appreciative of my health and my many blessings since I had a heart transplant," says Thalmann, a farmer from Ottertail, Minn.

Thalmann, now 42, had no idea that he had any heart problems until he was 34 years old. He had a bout of pneumonia that seemed to linger. A follow-up chest X-ray showed that his heart had doubled in size in just a few months. His hometown physician referred him to a cardiologist for testing.

Thalmann was shocked to learn he needed a heart transplant. "Throughout all the testing, no one had said those words to me. I always thought I would just get better with the right medicine," he says.

The physician Thalmann was working at home moved to another city. Friends and neighbors suggested he go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for a second opinion. That's where Thalmann met with Dr. Brooks Edwards and other members of the Mayo Cardiothoracic Transplant Team.

"By that time, I wasn't feeling well at all — I was pretty sick," says Thalmann. "Dr. Edwards was very concerned about me. After additional evaluation, he admitted me to the hospital."

Thalmann's stay at Mayo Clinic wouldn't be a short one.

"Pete's cardiomyopathy had progressed to the point where transplantation was his only good option," says Dr. Edwards. "He needed special intravenous drugs and close monitoring to support his heart while he waited for a suitable donor. His heart failure had progressed to the point where function of other vital organs — kidneys and liver — was beginning to be in jeopardy."

Thalmann was hospitalized for four months, during which time he wanted badly to go home. "In retrospect, I know why the doctors kept me in the hospital, but I missed my wife, Renae, and my kids, Nathan, Jill and Shane (then 14, 11 and 6)," he says. "I had to sell my dairy cows because I didn't have anyone to milk them for me."

Despite the severe nature of his cardiomyopathy, the transplant team wanted to keep Pete's bones and muscles in the best shape possible so he would be able to make a quick and full recovery when he did receive a transplant.

"Every day, a specially trained physical therapist helped me exercise on a stationary bike," says Thalmann. "It helped me pass the time and kept me in shape."

The day before Thanksgiving 1997, Thalmann learned he was getting a new heart. The transplant was completed on Thanksgiving Day. He was discharged from the hospital several weeks after the transplant and stayed in Rochester with his wife for three months. During that time, he was seen regularly by members of the Mayo transplant team, who closely monitored his new program of medications and exercise. By mid-February, he was able to return home to his family and his 500-acre farm.

Thalmann wanted to thank his donor family for the precious gift he had received. He wrote a letter and gave it to the organ procurement agency, which passed it on to the anonymous donor family. The family wrote back, expressing interest in meeting Thalmann and his family. To Thalmann's surprise, the donor was a young man who had lived close to the Thalmann family farm.

"While my heart could have come from anywhere, it came from someone who lived only 15 miles away from my home," says Thalmann. "Every day, I'm aware of the gift a family made at a very difficult time. It has given me a new life and the ability to help my children grow up with a special appreciation for each and every day."

Thalmann has teamed with that young man's parents to speak at gatherings about the importance of organ donation. "I never imagined that organ donation would affect me. But look what it has done for me and my family," he says.

Today Thalman is back to farming — raising replacement heifers for a neighbor and some heifers of his own. "I think I'm in better shape now than I've ever been," says Thalmann, who returns to Mayo Clinic twice a year for checkups and a visit with his friends.

Thalmann counts among his blessings the care he received at Mayo Clinic. "We're lucky to have a place like it so close to home," he says. "I don't know where I'd be without Mayo Clinic and the dedicated doctors and nurses. I consider them all my friends now. My local doctor can call them anytime with questions about my health. If I have a sinus infection and my doctor wants to know which medication is OK to give me, he calls Dr. Edwards and he calls back within an hour. Mayo Clinic is second to none. Because of my experiences there, Thanksgiving will always have special meaning for me."