A Kingwood man put his whole heart into being Santa. Then he needed a new one.
Texas man Deryl McKenzie has been a Santa Claus for nearly four decades, but needed a heart transplant in 2018. McKenzie has Type 2 diabetes. He had dealt with heart problems for years, but by 2018, his condition had escalated to end-stage heart failure. He’s now back to being Santa for the first time since his surgery.
Professor and cardiologist, Dr. Nathan Sriram, at UTHealth Houston Heart & Vascular and Memorial Hermann implanted a left ventricular assist device to help improve blood flow and performed his heart transplantation just three days after being placed on the heart transplant list.
Published via the Houston Chronicle