GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — February is Heart Month and the perfect time to share the story of a man with a new heart and a new mission after his transplant journey.
Tracy Gary is grateful to be alive after surviving three heart attacks, a stroke and three years on the transplant list.
"I try to live every day. Try to be positive and...I'm trying to pay it forward as much as I can because I can't pay it back. But I can pay it forward and help anybody I can," Gary told FOX 17 News.
Gary underwent transplant surgery in 2018.
He also met and fell in love with his wife Holly during his transplant journey.
They married in 2019.
Holly is a fellow transplant recipient who suffered sudden liver failure at 21.
"I literally remember three days of being in the hospital, and then I woke up a week and a half later with a full liver transplant," she explained. "I was on the waiting list for eight hours for my transplant compared to his three years so yeah... definitely a godsend."
Together they've partnered to create a nonprofit and the Transplant House of West Michigan.
The couple bought a house on the northeast side of Grand Rapids and are working to turn it into "a home away from home" for families with a loved one going through the transplant process.
"Me and Holly both feel that this is why we're still here," said Gary. "We know the struggles, our families know the struggles. So we're just trying to alleviate a lot of the struggles because this is part of the transplant process that nobody thinks about."
The home- which is currently being renovated- has four bedrooms, two kitchens, and accommodations for special needs.
According to Gary, a stay would cost roughly $60 a night.
"Hotels are $170 to $200 hours a night. And... it'll break a family going to a hotel," he said.
He added the sense of "community" there is also a big plus.
"It's almost like a support group because everybody here we're going through the same thing...They know what you're going through."
Gary said they hope to complete the home and open its doors sometime this spring.
As far as Gary's donor, he tells FOX 17 he only knows he was a 21-year-old Michigan resident.
He's written to his donor's family twice and would love to meet them one day to tell them all about Transplant House.
To learn more about Transplant House of West Michigan, click here.
To donate to the nonprofit's Paying It Forward Fund to cover costs for a family's stay, click here.
As the FOX 17 and Lake Michigan Credit Union Pay it Forward Person of the Month, Gary receives a $550 prize.
Know someone who should be our next Pay It Forward Person of the Month? Nominate them here.
Meet Michael and Marge Bush, our January 2024 Pay it Forward Person of the Month.