To symbolize the end of their battle against adversity, Home Run For Life honorees take a home run “lap” around the bases during a pregame ceremony.
April is National Donate Life Month
The Oklahoma City Dodgers and INTEGRIS Health continue their impactful Home Run For Life series for a 12th season as the organizations partner to recognize Oklahomans who have overcome significant medical events with the help of their families, physicians and health care professionals. To symbolize the end of their battle against adversity, honorees take a home run “lap” around the bases during a pregame ceremony.
The season-long 2023 series begins Friday, April 14 with the recognition of Paul Morrison and Natalie Harper, a father and daughter from Roff and Camanche, Okla., respectively, who both received lifesaving heart transplants within a few years of one another at INTEGRIS Health Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute after both suffered heart failure. Their heart transplants were performed by the same surgeon, C. Craig Elkins, M.D., chief of cardiovascular surgery at INTEGRIS Health Heart Hospital.
Heart failure changes a family’s life forever, especially when it affects more than one family member.
Morrison began feeling sick when the family moved to Oklahoma from California in Sept. 2004. The doctors initially believed he was suffering from asthma. He was later diagnosed with heart failure and began treatment. As time went on, it became clear that there was only one solution. “I had no option other than a transplant,” Morrison said. He received his transplant Sept. 1, 2009, exactly five years after moving to Oklahoma. The relief he felt was palpable. “Instantly, I could feel better,” he said. “It was such a blessing to get it.”
Just when it seemed life had returned to normal, Harper began showing symptoms of heart failure at only 19 years old. “I could barely get up to brush my teeth in the morning,” she said. The family asked to be transferred to INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center where they already had a well-established relationship with the doctors and nurses. “They already knew our family and do a wonderful job,” Harper said. She was initially given a pacemaker and a defibrillator before it became apparent that she would need a transplant like her father.
Rather than being nervous, Harper felt comforted going into the procedure with a sense of familiarity. “We both had the same doctors,” she said. “It was comforting.” Morrison and Harper hope by sharing their story during National Donate Life Month, they can convince others to be organ donors.
Oklahomans have three options to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor. Residents can sign-up when renewing their driver’s license, visit LifeShareRegistry.org to sign up online, or call 800-826-LIFE (5433) and request a donor registration form.
