JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Forty-one days of pacing hospital halls at Mayo Clinic Florida led Goffrey Duevel to a single moment. It’s an experience he’s gone through before, and 41 days isn’t the longest he’s had to wait, but it is a wait nonetheless.
A wait that would make the 46-year-old, who jokes about his “sick affection” with hospitals, the facility’s first three-time heart transplant recipient.
A Lifetime of Heart Challenges
Duevel’s relationship with hospitals began at age five when doctors diagnosed him with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The chemotherapy and radiation treatment eventually led to complications – heart problems that would shape his future.
His first heart transplant came in 2008. Five years later, in 2013, he needed a second. When asked about the possibility of a third transplant, Duevel admitted his initial reluctance…