Advertisement

Heart Transplant Recipient Dies; Family Says No Regrets

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine -- Talcott 'Sam' Poole, who underwent heart surgery five years ago at the age of 19, died Friday.

Doctors said his death was primarily a result of side effects from the drugs he took to protect the transplanted heart from his own body's immunity system.

Advertisement

The victim's mother, Victoria Simes Poole, said, 'Sam never was an invalid.' 'After he got his heart, he went off and did his thing. His life was exactly like everybody else's,' she said.

'Every day's a bonus,' he used to tell her.

The story of young Sam Poole received national publicity in Mrs. Poole's book, 'Thursday's Child,' which focused on her teenage son's desperate need for a heart transplant and the emotional and other challenges involved.

Poole was diagnosed at age 17 as having an enlarged heart as a result of permanent heart-muscle damage. He was near death Dec. 3, 1976, his 18th birthday and the day he was accepted into the Stanford University Medical Center's heart transplant program.

After receiving the transplant in February 1977, Poole drove across the country three times, studied toward a degree in film production at Stanford University, worked on several film production crews and served as assistant sound editor for a docudrama on reclaimed Moonies.

Advertisement

Mrs. Poole said there are no regrets about the transplant. She said death at 24 is a lot different from death at 17.

'We all learned that life was a gift and a wonderful thing, and he enjoyed every minute of it,' she said.

Latest Headlines