With a donated heart, Everett man has a new lease on life

Erik Gelhar is a new father. He and his wife, Jenn, welcomed baby Sophie into the world on Oct. 29. A year earlier, on Oct. 27, 2013, he received another gift of life — a new heart.

At home in Everett on Wednesday, Gelhar, 30, briefly lifted his shirt to show a long, pink scar down the middle of his chest. It will be a lifelong reminder of his heart transplant, performed at the University of Washington Medical Center.

In 2007, Gelhar was diagnosed with a type of cardiomyopathy, which meant progressive heart failure.

Living in his native Bellingham, he was working aboard ships as a junior engineer. At 22, he had just met Jenn Johansen, an Everett High School graduate who was finishing her degree at Western Washington University.

Strong and active, he had been a hiker and skier. That all changed when Gelhar developed a cough and had trouble breathing. A chest X-ray showed his heart was very enlarged. Doctors still don’t know what caused his condition.

So began a life-or-death journey. Gelhar not only had a heart transplant, he suffered a devastating stroke.

He has other scars, evidence of a heart pump that was implanted in 2010 at what is now Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. That device — “to buy time,” he said — helped circulate blood to keep him alive during his three-year wait for a donor heart.

The left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, was battery-powered, but at night he plugged it into an electrical outlet. “I had a power cord coming out of my abdomen,” he said, showing a small scar.

Gelhar lives with the visible scars. Far worse have been the aftereffects of the stroke he suffered during his transplant surgery. Just 48 hours after the transplant, Gelhar had surgery on a clot in his brain stem that caused the stroke.

Jenn Johansen Gelhar, a 29-year-old cardiac nurse at The Everett Clinic, said her husband’s stroke was a complication of the transplant surgery. She remembers that terrifying time, when doctors feared her husband wouldn’t survive.

“Doctors were giving condolences,” she said. Sitting next to her husband Wednesday as he chatted and held their infant daughter, she added, “He’s a walking miracle.”

Recovery has been hard won.

After the stroke, he was in a coma for several weeks. Once awake, he was unable to walk or talk. He spent about three months hospitalized in Seattle, where physical and occupational therapy were intense.

At Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, he continues with weekly physical therapy sessions. He is now working on fine motor skills.

A year ago, he was in a wheelchair. Today, there is no obvious sign of Gelhar’s stroke. Still, he has trouble with one eye tracking properly. He can hold Sophie, but isn’t strong or sure-footed enough to carry her up and down stairs.

Now on disability, Gelhar doesn’t expect to be able to work on ships again.

He has done important volunteer work for LifeCenter Northwest. The federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization works with families in Washington, Alaska, Montana and northern Idaho.

Gelhar lived with the critical need for organ donation. It’s a message he has spoken about to high school groups.

“It’s usually in a health class. We want kids to hear that question about organ donation before they hear it at the DMV,” he said, referring to the option of an organ-donor designation on a driver’s license.

It’s a conversation the Gelhars believe all families should have before a loved one dies. “It is ultimately up to the family,” Gelhar’s wife said. “You should really know what he or she would have wanted.”

With LifeCenter Northwest as an intermediary, Gelhar wrote a letter to the family of the man whose donated heart now beats in his chest.

The new father expressed his deep gratitude. In return, he received poignant letters from the donor’s parents.

“I wrote after Sophie was born,” Gelhar said.

Health concerns aren’t all behind them.

In a pillbox labeled by days of the week, Gelhar showed all the medications he needs, including immunosuppressant drugs that keep his body from rejecting his heart. There is physical therapy, and heart monitoring at UW Medical Center.

Yet with their baby girl and a vital gift of life, the road ahead looks so much brighter than what is behind them.

“We’re looking forward to our 30s,” Jenn Gelhar said.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.