Surviving A Heart Transplant: Life Lessons and Faith Unveiled

Chris Kiefer (00:00.662)

Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Pursuit of Purpose. My name is Chris Kiefer and today I have Dan Krist, who is a heart, I already forgot the word, a heart recipient, heart transplant recipient. There we go. Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Pursuit of Purpose. My name is Chris Kiefer and today I have Dan Krist, who is a heart transplant recipient and Dan, first of all, I just want to say,

Dan Christ (00:14.868)

There you go.

Chris Kiefer (00:30.626)

Thank you so much for the sharing this gift that you have struggled greatly to receive, I would say, with everybody else. So I met you a couple of weeks ago at a talk with Levi and Terry Gurnow or a workshop. And you're just a very inspiring person when I first talked to you. And I was super excited that you were willing to come on and chat more. So thank you.

Dan Christ (00:46.053)

Yes.

Dan Christ (00:56.496)

Yeah, you bet, Chris. Looking forward to this.

Chris Kiefer (00:58.818)

So, first of all, I would say for anyone that is just looking for a pretty amazing story of Hope, I would highly recommend that you go look up the episode that Terry Gurnow did with Dan Crist on his podcast called Unyielding Hope. It was posted back October 2nd, it looks like. So, definitely just to go through chronologically what happened in Dan's journey.

It's a fantastic episode, the highs and lows and everything. I don't want to just recap and do a version two of that same thing. So today, um, where I, where I would like to start Dan is probably there was the most impactful moment of that podcast for me. And it's a journal entry that you made. So we're kind of, uh, I think it's a Quentin Tarantino in this story for the listeners that haven't heard the rest of it, but I'll give my brief summary.

Dan Christ (01:53.785)

Sure.

Chris Kiefer (01:56.898)

Dan's a triathlete, very active person. He finds out that, you know, just because of being symptomatic, being out of breath and whatnot, goes through a bunch of testing and whatnot, finds out he needs a heart. He ends up being on the heart transplant list and then gets his condition declines greatly. And now he's in the hospital for how many months?

Dan Christ (02:18.632)

I was in the hospital for six and a half months total. Six months to the day of transplant.

Chris Kiefer (02:24.178)

Yeah, so he's in the hospital for six months and then on December 8th you wrote this in your journal and again this was what you read to Terry and this was this I just think is incredible, but I just want to go home with or without a heart. It's what I'm feeling. I don't want to keep fighting and being the strong guy. I don't want to be the kind encouraging man at the end of the hall with the great attitude. I just want this to be over. I texted one of my best friends tonight from growing

to let them know how I'm struggling. I just wanna go on a date with Nicole, your wife, and I just wanna get out of here. And that, I mean, I feel like for everyone listening to just think about what Dan is saying in this, and I would say Dan, provide some more context of where is this at in that six month period? What happened before, after, how is like.

Dan Christ (03:19.282)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (03:22.774)

How do you get to a place of that?

Dan Christ (03:26.84)

Yeah, you know, even as I verbalized that, it was... And I'm glad that you picked up on that. It was just straight honest. Not that I don't mind being the nice guy or the good guy at the end of the hall, but it was just... You know, I was admitted on August 29th. So when I was first admitted, they said, you know, knowing my...

Chris Kiefer (03:39.63)

Oh yeah.

Dan Christ (03:51.612)

Couple of the factors are my size, little bit taller than average, blood type zero, oh, not zero, and very common. And then my antibodies. So I'm gonna automatically reject over 70% of any heart that would possibly even be a match for me. So they knew all of the data, they knew some of that. So they just said, look, Dan, when you get hospitalized, you're gonna be there for a few weeks, possibly a few months.

So I think mentally my wife and I were prepared for, you know, a two to three months stay. Um, I think my plan was to, uh, you know, have, have surgery recover over Thanksgiving and Christmas, you know, but a good time to just be home and can't do anything anyway. So my, as well as enjoy family and good food and all those things. And so by the time, and then I, it just, as the, as the fall got into winter, my condition.

Chris Kiefer (04:37.795)

Mm.

Dan Christ (04:51.382)

continued to decrease. They kept, I use the word threatening to send me down to intensive care for, which would basically leave me in the bed at all times.

probably not able to work like I had been doing. And so when we hit December, and just knowing that's Christmas, and seeing the writing on the wall, there's nothing happening. I'm gonna be here. I'm gonna be here longer. I think on December 8th, that was just kind of a, you know, partly just a bad day. But I think it was just me being transparent, saying I, I'm living here.

Chris Kiefer (05:18.53)

Hmm.

Chris Kiefer (05:32.226)

Hmm. Well, yeah, I would. There's a couple of things I would say is that, yes, it's being transparent. I think it just shows your character of like wanting to make sure that people know that you do like being the nice guy and the friendly guy with the smile. But, but I think everybody would understand like, yeah, I've had a bad day before, you know, like I had to wake up and change the poopy diaper at two in the morning and throw up on the ground or whatever, you know, like that's a bad day for a parent, but it's a whole nother level of.

Dan Christ (05:33.86)

And I don't know.

Dan Christ (05:45.708)

Yeah, yeah, right, yeah.

Dan Christ (05:52.377)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (05:58.564)

I know. Right. Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (06:02.286)

Because the thing that hit me was, at this point in the story, you've been doing this for four months, there's no end in sight, you could die, you might get a heart, you might not, is it gonna get worse before it ends? Like I can imagine the, like there's only, there is value in that, I think you had said at another point, your goal was just to make it through every day. So you wake up like, I'm just gonna get through today. But at some point it's like,

Dan Christ (06:09.704)

Mm-hmm. Mm-mm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dan Christ (06:27.579)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (06:32.574)

Okay, like, what do you want, God? Like, what else, what do you want me to do? What's the purpose here? Yeah, I just, I feel like I can imagine being in a state of that, that like, completely dependent, not able to do anything on your own, I mean, very few things on your own power and will. And yeah, I mean, I feel like that's...

Dan Christ (06:36.462)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (06:50.469)

Yes.

Dan Christ (06:54.865)

Right.

Chris Kiefer (06:59.67)

That's a, when I heard that, it's just like a, to me, it was one of those great blessings of how many things do I take for granted that it's just like, yeah, I can go walk. Like walk, I walk all the time. I don't even think about walk. I don't even, I don't give thanks for walking, you know?

Dan Christ (07:10.47)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (07:14.46)

I know, right? I know. Yeah, yeah. Getting out of bed. I mean, just the real role of just taking a shower. And that was kind of one of the things like every day. I had a couple of things that like I did. I showered every day. It was a massive pain because I had a pick line. In fact, the night of that journal, just to maybe set up exactly what was going on, every week they had to change.

Chris Kiefer (07:27.534)

Hmm.

Dan Christ (07:42.676)

clean out whatever the pick line, which if you don't have a pick line, it's basically an IV that goes straight into your, I wanna say your basilic vein, and then it runs a catheter that goes straight to basically right outside your heart. So the two main meds that I had to be on that were life-saving meds, keeping my heart going without having to overwork, that's why I was hospitalized, were to be on these meds.

So they were like life-giving meds and every week they had to change out, you know, the dressing and the pick line.

And every once in a while they'd have trouble with it. And it'd get clogged up. And I mean, just when you're thinking like, this is the med that's keeping me going, and then you find out that it's clogged, or they've got to do something to it, and IV therapy has to rush up to the room and fix something, for whatever reason. And I think maybe now it sounds silly, maybe it doesn't, but to me in my bed, I always just overcome. Because I'm thinking, if there's a problem here, then there's a major problem. This is what my heart we're talking about.

Chris Kiefer (08:43.405)

Hmm.

Dan Christ (08:48.71)

It's not like, you know, my knee or my elbow or something else. And so I kind of, yeah, and maybe, right. And again, I'm the patient, so I don't know everything. So the doctors or the nurses may just know, well, it's just an issue. It's going to be resolved. It's not going to be a big deal. But like to me, it was a huge deal and it would be stressful. They'd have to put a D clogger on it for like two hours.

Chris Kiefer (08:48.769)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (08:53.682)

It's like literal lifeline that you're seeing feet in front of your eyes.

Chris Kiefer (09:05.524)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (09:12.452)

So like two in the morning they had to come in and I'm just thinking like, am I going to be okay? And that's where I just would be like, I've had it. I've just, I've had it. And I'm getting the ventricular tachycardia, my arrhythmias and my heart and they'd come in the night and, man, how you feeling? It sounds like you're, we can see on the monitor that your heart's doing the thing again. And you just wonder how much can your heart take? And so...

you're isolated, alone, you know, all of these feelings. And so I think with that plus on medical thing, when that would happen, that's why I wrote in my journal what I did that day and there's other days similar, that it's just.

Chris Kiefer (09:51.147)

Mm.

Dan Christ (09:55.304)

tired of this. I'm just tired, you know.

Chris Kiefer (09:56.62)

Yeah.

And I just feel like how it's unbelievable where medicine has gotten today of just like the fact that that, like they literally, if I'm not mistaken, they literally saw your sternum, right? And they're just like, they've opened your chest up completely. And then they take your heart out and put a different person's heart in and get it going again. Like it's, that's insane.

Dan Christ (10:06.768)

Oh. Unbelievable.

Dan Christ (10:15.746)

Oh yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dan Christ (10:24.029)

Yes

Dan Christ (10:27.624)

Can I say something about that too real quick? I didn't say this in the other episode. The heart, I mean, it's a miracle. I mean, the surgeon who did the surgery, this is what she said when she put the heart in, because they sever all the nerves. So I still don't have nerves connected to my heart, like from like the vagus nerve, one of the main nerves that goes through your body. It's not connected to my brain.

Chris Kiefer (10:50.539)

Wow.

Dan Christ (10:54.488)

So they put this heart in, they connect it, and then all, this is what she said, she just said she took her finger, like if my fist was my heart, she put her finger across the surface of the heart, and it started to beat, and then stop. She did it a second time, started to beat, and then stop. Did it a third time, just gentle touch, and it hasn't stopped beating. Tell me how that works. Is that insane?

Chris Kiefer (11:17.998)

Oh my gosh. I mean, not just to me, I had the elephant in the room is like, it's like the divine touch of God bringing life into someone like that. So that's immediately like, that's crazy.

Dan Christ (11:29.78)

No, it is crazy. It's totally crazy. And so, I mean, there's so many of those things along the way that like, oh, I wasn't planning on saying this, but it's nothing anybody would ever want to have to go through. But there's so many things along the way that make you very fortunate to be able to experience. Is that? That's not scripted, man. That's what I mean.

Chris Kiefer (11:46.305)

Mmm.

Chris Kiefer (11:55.323)

Oh yeah, that's 100%.

Dan Christ (11:59.34)

So how crazy to be a part of that.

Chris Kiefer (12:03.838)

Yeah. Well, so another thing that I told you briefly in my story, and this is, I'm curious, this is where these questions are coming from. But and listeners may or may not know this as well, but my dad was a PE teacher for thirty five years or something like that. Taught at the same school, same, same job, same gym. Oh, they got a new school and he moved gyms, but it's still Banks Elementary. They're there for all thirty five years.

Dan Christ (12:08.038)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (12:12.678)

Right.

Chris Kiefer (12:31.65)

And he was a PE teacher, K through six. And he would when he retired, when he was sixty five, I think. I have to check all the ages, but he's in his 60s. He retires two weeks after he retires. He's having some health issues. So something's not right. Goes into the doctor. They're like, oh, you have a mass on your pancreas. That's not good. Let's do some testing. They biopsy it. It's cancer.

So he gets diagnosed with cancer three to four weeks after his last day of his career, right? Just when you're like, you know, I feel like so many people in the world are like, oh, I can't wait to retire. You know, you have all the life after your career, you know? So three to four weeks after his career, gets diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And our family is like, the thing that hit me with your story was the amount of like, we're Christians, very faithful people.

Dan Christ (13:08.432)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (13:30.018)

And when this happened, I feel like what you were describing your family was doing is what we were doing with my dad. We were like, we just had to pray for a miracle. We had fundraisers and people were coming over. He had so many guests and just people supporting us. And it just like from inside the family, it's like when you, it's like the.

Dan Christ (13:47.729)

Right.

Chris Kiefer (13:54.19)

turning the water up on the frog, you don't realize it's getting hotter, or in this case, it's getting a lot worse, because you're right in it. But when we look at photos of just chronologically what happened, it was like, he got diagnosed, and it was just a straight downhill to death. It was going down fast. He died two months later, so again, for context, three months after he retires, he's dead. And our family, and I feel like,

Dan Christ (13:57.107)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (14:01.274)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (14:22.754)

This is the, again, this is the setup for I'm curious to what extent you did face this. I feel like one thing that I regret or that I'm, that I always just, it's not even regret. It's like I learned something from it, right? I can't, I don't like living with regret, but I always tell people that are in a situation like this and it's hard to hear, but it's like, don't be afraid to confront the reality that you could lose your dad or your mom or your sibling or whoever this person is.

and like they actually could be gone. So if you have something on your mind, a question you wanna ask, something that you're afraid to, I feel like for, I can't speak for my siblings, but I was afraid to ask my dad things that were in my head because I was worried that it was gonna come off as I didn't have faith that he could get better. Does that make sense? So it was like, I was like, we're believing, we're believing that there's a miracle. And I felt like if I would have said,

Dan Christ (14:53.742)

Right.

Yeah.

Dan Christ (15:11.625)

Oh, that's really good. Yeah, understandable. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Chris Kiefer (15:20.342)

hey dad, like, you're gonna die in two months. Now I'm the pessimist in the room, but I felt like if I would have done that and we would have faced that reality, there wouldn't, well, I feel like the other thing is that for me, looking back and reflecting on this, I was afraid of the vulnerability that a statement like that would require, and that I'm crying, he's crying, now we're like really...

Dan Christ (15:26.377)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (15:49.342)

what are the things that you wanna share and talk about? Because now we're at the end. And it was easier, again, as a 21-year-old, to just be like, hey, Dad, I'm gonna head to work for my summer job and I'll see you this afternoon. And I was just staying busy. And then all of a sudden he's gone and there's these questions that you're like, I wonder what he would have said had we actually done that. So anyways, that's the, I only say all that.

Dan Christ (15:51.912)

Right.

Dan Christ (15:57.436)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (16:05.976)

Yeah...

Dan Christ (16:15.667)

Right.

Chris Kiefer (16:18.102)

because I'm curious how, like talk to me about the family life to the extent that you feel comfortable of like, did you guys talk about stuff like that? Were you actually like, look, I've got two months to live, three months to live, or were you staying in that place of, again, I don't think it's bad, but I'm just looking at my story as like, we were in this place of hope and almost blissful unawareness of like, or acknowledgement of that.

Dan Christ (16:23.909)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (16:37.338)

Yeah, no.

Dan Christ (16:44.721)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (16:48.508)

How about if I just say somewhere in between? You know, I think, and even leading up, I think the family, because it was a quasi slow process, you know, I was originally diagnosed in 2020. My symptoms started in early of 2020. So I think all of us had time to see that there was a stark difference to dad or to Dan, you know.

Chris Kiefer (16:51.246)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Kiefer (17:15.246)

Mm.

Dan Christ (17:16.152)

And so one would walk with Nicole. I couldn't go up hills, couldn't go upstairs, couldn't hike. But I could still walk. And I think they all kind of saw my limitations, but they could also see what I could do.

But as everything continued to decline, they could see more naps, more exhaustion. I mean, I just kind of remembered when I was still before hospitalized. I mean, the whole idea, you come home from work and take a nap. I mean, when I came home at like five or 5.30, whatever, and I'd lay on the couch, I'd be just wiped and just incredibly fatigued and exhausted.

the Christmas before in 21, right before I was transplant listed, Nicole was taking a lot of pictures because she could see the change, the decline. So I think in a certain sense, it was good that the kids, I feel very bad about your story to see how sudden that was. I think maybe.

Chris Kiefer (18:14.232)

Hmm.

Dan Christ (18:26.336)

is a different type of pain to see the demise of myself.

Dan Christ (18:33.308)

And I think part of it was, let's just enjoy whatever moments we do have. One of my kids was at college during the time, the other was in Seattle working. And so they would visit when they could and we FaceTimed all the time. And I don't think we talked real, real deeply about the possibility of not making it. What I did do though was I was pretty honest about my trust and my faith in Christ.

Chris Kiefer (18:39.309)

Hmm.

Chris Kiefer (19:03.637)

Mm.

Dan Christ (19:04.59)

I gotta tell ya...

Dan Christ (19:08.628)

It's not like I laid there in my bed and said, you know what, I am totally cool. If I die, everything's going to be fine. Now I think inside my faith inform me that my trust and faith in Christ meant, you know, my eternity was secure. But it's not like that didn't freak me out. It freaked me out. It absolutely did. I was afraid of dying. I'll be honest.

Chris Kiefer (19:26.805)

Mmm

Chris Kiefer (19:31.735)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (19:34.064)

And I think to a certain degree that the family kind of knew it. I didn't go the other extreme. And I kind of touched on that on the interview with Terry about just the fragility of our faith. Like, you can be real strong. And I can remember years ago, man, if I'm gone, I'm good, you know. But that's when, you know, yeah.

Chris Kiefer (19:54.474)

Yeah, it's easy to say that when you're not at that stage.

Dan Christ (19:58.112)

I'm gonna go for a run, I'm gonna go moan, I feel really healthy man. But if my life is taken, man, I'm in great shape. But it's like when you're faced with death, that's a different, I mean, for me, totally different reality. And I would have to tell people who, you know, you're gonna be fine, you're gonna be okay, you're gonna make it through. Like, I appreciate the encouragement, the hope, but I don't appreciate the guarantee.

Chris Kiefer (20:22.732)

Mmm.

Dan Christ (20:25.14)

There's no guarantee. Kindly. Yeah, because, I mean, you mentioned your situation. Our family, both with other health things way in the past and just some of the stuff we've been through, there's no guarantees. There's an eternal guarantee.

Chris Kiefer (20:25.247)

You would tell people that.

Yeah. Yeah, who are you to say I'm gonna be fine?

Dan Christ (20:50.597)

that we all believe and trust in. But you know, did I pray for healing? Like dramatic, my heart completely reshape and get strong and the disease leave. I prayed for that, why not? You know, it was hard praying for a donor.

Chris Kiefer (21:06.551)

Mm-hmm.

Dan Christ (21:09.404)

Because that means somebody's life is over. And I had to struggle with that, with the idea that within the sovereignty of God and the providence that when somebody else's time has come that there's a heart available that will help me get further down the road. I had to kind of wrestle with that to the degree of I'm not wanting anyone to lose their life just so that I can live a little longer.

Chris Kiefer (21:15.712)

Hmm.

Chris Kiefer (21:35.659)

Hmm.

Dan Christ (21:36.168)

But I also didn't want to have this idea that just because I'm a person of faith, I have this special dispensation of God's favor that means I'm not going to die. I know a lot of faithful Christians who have died, what I would say, young or too young. And I'm no different, no better. Just if this works out, praise God.

Chris Kiefer (21:56.099)

Hmm

Dan Christ (22:04.852)

If it doesn't, you know, praise God for everything He's given me. So I said, if Jesus doesn't do one more thing for me, He's already done more than I could ever ask for or imagine. So that's where my faith is.

Chris Kiefer (22:07.617)

Right.

Chris Kiefer (22:19.394)

Hmm. So what would you say to like, did the so many different questions I want to ask him thinking of which ones are best chronologically here. But I would say the back to like the conversations or that we did or didn't have with my dad. And I'm, this is just a thought that hit me that, um, what's important is that the I, this is my thought is that the person that is in that situation of facing death

Dan Christ (22:26.812)

Yeah, go ahead.

Dan Christ (22:37.876)

Sure. Yeah.

Dan Christ (22:49.105)

Yeah, OK.

Chris Kiefer (22:49.314)

that they have the freedom and the support to have the discussions or the conversations or say the things that they want to do or they want to go down, right? If you're in that situation and you're like, you know, sick of all the positivity, then let's let Dan be sick with the positivity and stop giving it to him. But if you're, you know what I'm saying? Like it's, and I also, I always wanna clarify that my sister and I had a conversation not too long ago.

Dan Christ (22:56.275)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (22:59.943)

Right.

Dan Christ (23:05.705)

Right.

Dan Christ (23:12.336)

Right.

Dan Christ (23:15.663)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Kiefer (23:18.782)

And again, the funny thing is this is like, I don't know, funny's not the right word. The interesting thing about this is just the grieving process. He died 12 years ago. And so we're very like beyond that. It's not like there's moments where I'll get sad thinking of memories or like, oh, I wish he didn't never met any of my kids. He didn't go to my wedding. There's things that are like, that kind of makes me sad, right? But at the same time, my sister Nicole and I have talked about how

Dan Christ (23:37.006)

Mm-hmm.

Dan Christ (23:41.608)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (23:46.998)

we probably project a lot of these thoughts of like, oh, it's so, it's too bad that we didn't have these heartfelt conversations with dad before he died, because who's to say that that's what he wanted? Like, you know, maybe, like I wonder, I would have liked to have asked, are you afraid to die, dad? And I don't know, like, I don't know if he would have, well, how he would have answered that, you know? But I feel like, like you're saying, I think it's very powerful to own, like,

Dan Christ (23:54.742)

Yay.

Dan Christ (24:06.237)

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (24:15.882)

Yeah, I was scared out of my mind. But then that doesn't mean that I'm not faithful or that I don't believe in eternal life or anything. It's just like everybody, like I've said the same thing. I've told, I've gone to bed and been like, we have a good life. I'm, if we die, if I died, you know, tomorrow, next week, I'm great, like I'm so grateful for everything that we have. But that, but it's so, it's just like this, of course you're gonna say that, you know? Like, you're not, you don't actually think you're gonna die tomorrow, you know?

Dan Christ (24:18.355)

Mm-hmm.

Dan Christ (24:40.158)

I know.

Dan Christ (24:44.211)

Right.

Dan Christ (24:48.588)

Yeah, so are you just questioning like the kids and their conversations with me that way or how much I share? Yeah, yeah, and I think with our kids, um,

Chris Kiefer (24:55.078)

Yeah, I don't even necessarily have questions. It's more of just talking to someone that can share whatever experience you want to share.

Dan Christ (25:08.612)

And maybe this is just kind of my philosophy of being a dad is just having a really honest approach to life. Like, don't shield me from stuff just because I'm sick. I'm proud of you. I value you. I love you. What can I help you with? And I think I try to be I try to be as available to like I remember times at night where my son and I.

which, you know, not like a major phone talker or FaceTimer, but like he was going through some stuff he wanted to talk to me about, and we would just sit up and talk, you know, over the phone or on FaceTime.

And those were deeply meaningful because every time we would do it, I would be thinking, you know, whatever I, however I talk to my kids, whatever I tell them, however I'm, I know these are going to be some of their lasting memories. If for example, this, this is it. And, um, my daughter's the same thing. Nicole, I mean, we just made the most. I mean, we basically had date night on the weekend in our hotel. There, I said it again in the hospital room, you know, one of the nurses brought us

you know battery-operated candles and we would Beaster lights up on the ceiling and we just try to make it like, you know if nothing else these are the memories of us being together and enjoying our time and And keeping things real, you know, I don't I don't know how deep I can't really recall How deep I got about the fear of death or what and I will say I mean

Chris Kiefer (26:24.93)

Hmm.

Chris Kiefer (26:28.142)

Hahaha

Dan Christ (26:49.996)

I really, even that, let's go back to that journal on December 8th, obviously those are just some transparent feelings I had. Really close to the end, I really, I believed it was going to happen and that it was going to work. I mean, because all this time that I'm in the hospital, I mean with doctors every day, nurse practitioners every day, nurses are providing outstanding care.

It's normalized to a degree. I mean heart transplant. I mean, there's like 3500 worldwide a year. So in a certain sense, that's not very many. But in other sense, well, that's a lot. I mean, I don't know how you quantify heart transplant. You know, it's like it happens. And I mean, they had to give us the statistics. And, you know,

Chris Kiefer (27:25.302)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (27:36.464)

Obviously not 100 percent, but pretty stinking high in terms of immediate success and three to five year and then beyond. So I think I did have a sense of everything. Everything pointed to this wasn't like a 50 or, you know, it really did point. It was going to come down to honestly the donation.

Chris Kiefer (27:39.979)

Hmm

Chris Kiefer (27:54.39)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (28:01.452)

Right.

Dan Christ (28:01.572)

And I think that's where, you know, even after I was or when I was finally discharged, I should say released when I was discharged. You know, one of the doctors confided that with tears coming down his eyes, he was concerned. He was concerned that we're going to get one in time. And I don't know what time meant. I mean, they have me on everything they can. But

Chris Kiefer (28:23.778)

Hmm. Yeah.

Dan Christ (28:31.316)

There's that sense that there's no way it's going to happen to me that it's not going to work out. But there's also a sense of you better be prepared. So just try to make the most of. Go ahead. Yeah. No, go ahead.

Chris Kiefer (28:37.73)

Hmm. Would you say? Sorry, I have my thought is that do you would you say that this is the worst thing, worst situation that's ever happened in your life? The worst thing you've been in.

Dan Christ (28:53.905)

It's not.

Chris Kiefer (28:57.038)

Tell me about that.

Dan Christ (28:57.601)

Hahaha

I've been through worse, if I, I mean, and the worst was just, you know, a whole nother topic, but medically, yes, obviously, but I think it wasn't the worst because...

when you feel health-wise when things aren't right. And like I mentioned to Terry, even the day the doctor told me, two days before Christmas on 21, you know, Dan, you need a heart. And how simultaneously devastating that was, as I shared with Terry, that was also hope. Like...

there's a means to keep me alive. And I was a mess. I mean, walking anywhere across the house was a challenge at that point. So the hope level just increased and I just compare that to some other, very challenging times where there was just more, I guess maybe the despair was different.

Chris Kiefer (29:37.378)

Like I don't have to feel this way forever.

Chris Kiefer (30:04.011)

Mmm.

Dan Christ (30:04.9)

And in this, there was less despair and more hope. And so.

Dan Christ (30:11.748)

I think that's probably what made the difference in terms of facing this. And also I think the idea that it's such, I guess, a big deal, worry wasn't going to gain me anything. I gained nothing from worry in this. I think sometimes we try to worry because we want to control something, but I couldn't affect the outcome.

Chris Kiefer (30:40.321)

Right.

Dan Christ (30:40.504)

I have zero power, zero control. It's going to happen or it's not going to happen, but it's going to happen completely despite anything that I can say, do, you know, other than being well prepared.

Chris Kiefer (30:53.314)

So the reason I was asking, and obviously we don't have to go to the other story or the other worst moment unless you want to, but what I was going to say about that is I heard this, um, it was like a journaling prompt and it's interesting for like people listening to this as well. Think about what's the worst thing that's ever happened to you. Um, and it might take you a second and you could come up with like,

Dan Christ (30:55.538)

Yeah.

Hehehe

Chris Kiefer (31:17.462)

you know, what is the worst? I'm sure you were trying to dis in your head, like, is that the worst, the worst medically? I don't know if medical or versus anything else. So that's picked a couple of the worst moments. But then the prompt is, how is that the best thing that ever happened to me?

Dan Christ (31:22.724)

Yeah. Right.

Dan Christ (31:34.725)

Mm.

Chris Kiefer (31:35.794)

And so my question to you would be saying, you said it's one of the worst. I would say if you reframe this from your new perspective, how is going through that six months in, you know, moments of despair and just helplessness and also inspiration and ups and down and ups and downs and not knowing and facing death, how is that the best thing that's ever happened to you or one of the best things?

Dan Christ (31:37.409)

Okay.

Dan Christ (31:41.018)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (31:52.371)

Right.

Dan Christ (31:56.883)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (32:01.764)

Yeah, that's an excellent question. And I probably, OK, a number of things. Some of the things that I learned. I learned some really, really powerful lessons. I learned about control. I learned about submission. I learned about contentment.

And I'm talking like true, true contentment. I really, you know, just really cool stuff that in the quietness and the moments of my room, gratitude, made some friendships. You know, Nicole and I, I mean, Nicole would, you know, when she'd visit me and...

I mean, she would walk out late at night. The nurses would accompany her to the car. We became friends. I mean, we went to like a baby shower for one of the nurses. We've connected with them. One of the nurses has come to a few of Nolan's, my son's baseball games. I mean, they live in Spokane. And I mean, we just have this in which, you know, 30 something miles away. I mean, just the connections with some of these people. I've connected with some other transplant recipients.

Chris Kiefer (33:01.963)

Mmm.

Chris Kiefer (33:09.965)

Mmm.

Dan Christ (33:20.788)

A good friend who's on the waiting list to receive a heart who has the exact same disease I have who lives here locally and we're in touch quite a bit with her journey, you know, because she's waiting for her heart and you know, that's a tough journey, but I've been through it. So, you know, it's nothing ever anyone would ever choose or ask for.

But I would say that within God's providence, this is what has fallen to us.

It doesn't mean there aren't things along the way that can make it very, very positive. The memories, the journey, dependence on God. I mean, the people that visited me, the friends, the meals, the people who provided so many meals to Nicole and my son, Nolan. I mean, I went through most of his junior year absent.

Chris Kiefer (34:01.906)

Mm.

Dan Christ (34:24.868)

you know, not, not home, not with him, couldn't cheer him on from the sidelines until I got out of the hospital, got out just in time for some of his baseball season. But, um, those are painful memories, but they're also real. And it's hard to really quantify that. I mean, I went to the, I go to the hospital regularly for biopsies and checkups and things like that. And one day I drove up kind of the route that Nicole would take when she would come and visit me and, and I just started sobbing thinking.

she did this, you know, at least every, you know, every weekend and then more as possible. A lot of times late at night, a lot of times, you know, snow and ice, parking in a terrible neighborhood outside the hospital.

Chris Kiefer (35:05.358)

Mm.

Chris Kiefer (35:12.491)

Hmm.

Dan Christ (35:13.308)

I mean, you know, those things you don't. I mean, so you think of the level of love and care that people have for you. How can you not be grateful for that? And so it's just, yeah, it's hard to look at it from a sense. And then also just the idea how powerful it is that people choose to be donors. I mean, it is the most remarkable gift that in a lot of times.

Chris Kiefer (35:22.434)

Hmm.

Chris Kiefer (35:34.787)

Hmm.

Dan Christ (35:41.528)

You know, in this case through death, there's living donors, obviously with kidneys and other things. But to be a donor that literally doesn't cost you anything, but provides life for somebody else. I mean, Chris, that's overwhelming. This one individual hadn't been a donor. How much longer? I mean, because this was literally the first heart that would match for me. And that was six months into the hospital.

Chris Kiefer (35:53.207)

Mm.

Chris Kiefer (36:05.472)

Mm.

Yeah, and there's thousands of people dying that are donors every day, right? Yeah.

Dan Christ (36:10.804)

Yes. Yeah. So this guy, you know, I mean, guy, gal, I don't know yet. We don't know. But it's, I mean, unbelievable. So it's, and people talk, people ask me questions. It's a joy to share the journey because I do believe it's such a great miracle.

And again, even like now, I don't feel like I'm telling my story because this seems out of body. Like, is this really, did this something that Dan went through? So it's really a gift in an odd way that was very painful. Like I've said before, once you make it through the pain, you don't feel it anymore. And you're left with some of those painful memories, but you're also left with a lot of good. I mean...

Chris Kiefer (36:40.186)

Mmm.

Chris Kiefer (36:52.428)

Mmm.

Dan Christ (36:58.668)

It's, I go up to the floor every time I have a visit at the hospital and I go see the nurses and I just keep thanking them, thanking them for being hope givers, thanking them for their care and their eyes light up because a lot of times they don't see the patients afterwards and a lot of them are short term. I'm kind of the rare one that was, that lived there.

Chris Kiefer (37:16.738)

For that long, yeah.

Dan Christ (37:17.244)

But it's, yeah, but I mean, you know, they saw me in my worst. I saw some of them in their worst. You see them every day. They're gonna have a bad day too. So you just kind of have that connection and it's powerful.

Chris Kiefer (37:25.93)

Mmm

Chris Kiefer (37:30.386)

Yeah, well, I have said, I think it was like six or seven years ago. I made a video just trying to I was after I heard this prompt of like, how is the best thing that ever happened to you? And I was trying to reframe my dad dying. And so I made a video that was called Why I'm Glad My Dad Died. And a lot of people think it's like a tort, like, how dare you make a video like that? And I clarified immediately in the video.

Dan Christ (37:54.689)

Yeah, right.

Chris Kiefer (37:58.466)

Like I would give anything to have him back. Like I waited like so bad, he was an amazing dad, but the things that I have learned that I don't think I would have learned any other way other than losing your dad. And this is the frame that I'm choosing to see it in is that I got to have that experience as a 21 year old. Sometimes people don't experience that till they're 70, you know, and then they're like.

Dan Christ (38:25.797)

Hmm

Chris Kiefer (38:27.174)

Oh crap, I wasted my entire life because I wasn't, they weren't dealing with those questions that I was at the time that I was, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, there's, I guess the point to that is that, to me, is that anything in life, is it good or bad or whatever, you know, it's like, there's that parable of the, it's like the farmer's son breaks his leg.

and they're like, oh, what a misfortune. And then the army comes to call all the young people to war and he can't go and they're like, oh, it's so fortunate that he broke his leg and it just goes back and forth and back and forth. And it's like, is it like God has the ability to make anything good or like to bring good out of any situation. And so I just think that that's been something that I think is inspiring about what you're doing is should be like, yes, this is a...

Dan Christ (39:13.733)

Yes.

Absolutely.

Chris Kiefer (39:25.518)

crazy thing that it's like, hopefully I don't have to go through something like that. Hopefully, like I don't I wouldn't wish that on any of my friends. But if that was something that I was called to go through, it'd be like, I'm open. I'm like, I'm curious. How is how am I supposed to be? What is what is God going to use this for? You know what I mean?

Dan Christ (39:31.271)

Right.

Dan Christ (39:50.285)

Right, right.

Chris Kiefer (39:53.278)

Yeah, and the other I feel like the other. This is another like. Psychology thing of just like imagine if you were God and you were choosing because you knew how the story ended for Dan and Chris and anyone else. And you chose to put all of the struggles and hardships in Dan's life on purpose because you knew what Dan was going to get faced with.

Dan Christ (40:07.928)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (40:19.658)

when he was 60 and 65 and 70 and 75. And like all those things, it's like the struggles are they give you, that you leave the struggle with strength in that area that you didn't have before. And how are you going to be able to deploy that gift in another relationship, another conversation or whatever. So I just think that that's the, it's like you wanna make sure that you're not

Dan Christ (40:22.428)

Hmm

Dan Christ (40:33.545)

Hmm.

Chris Kiefer (40:48.61)

discrediting pain or terrible situations, like, oh, you'll be fine. You're just gonna be such a gift to other people, Dan. You're like, doesn't feel like it right now, you know?

Dan Christ (40:52.026)

Oh, for sure.

Right. Yeah. You know, that's good. I think, you know, part of it is our Western mindset that just sees pain as bad and suffering, you know, inconveniences that nobody should ever have to face. I think it would do us well to embrace the challenges that we find ourselves in.

And I think that probably is also one of the lessons, or I should say perspectives that I take from this. It doesn't mean that I don't stress out about things or don't take work or big decisions seriously.

I think the stress level has really gone down because it's hard to overreact to what I would consider from my perspective, minor sufferings, pains, inconveniences. It's not for me to judge, but it is apparent how quickly people can become upset with just the smallest inconveniences.

Chris Kiefer (41:53.923)

Mm.

Dan Christ (42:09.54)

You know, you just want to say, man, that's really nothing. But you don't want to be. But but on the other hand, too, even if you were to talk about pain and suffering, which I've read a lot, I've studied a lot on. Keller has a great book about that. And, you know, it's kind of whatever it is to you. So I also don't want to minimize.

Chris Kiefer (42:13.292)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (42:30.904)

other people's health struggles, relational struggles, job, life, things, because whatever it is you are going through is significant to you. You know, I'm not like a, you know, a graduate level sufferer just because of the things that I've been through and then everybody else just isn't quite there yet, hasn't earned, you know, the right degree. It's what it is, but I do think there's things that no matter the level or the degree to which we've suffered,

Chris Kiefer (42:40.31)

Yep.

Chris Kiefer (42:50.569)

Yeah, yeah.

Dan Christ (43:00.818)

can learn and take from so that we don't have to react every single time to those things that come to us. I mean, I go back to when I first had melanoma, malignant melanoma, right before this happened. And I remember sitting at the dining room table with our kids and they were just a strut when we when we told them the news. I mean, Chris, I lost one of my very best friends to the exact same disease.

Chris Kiefer (43:26.094)

Hmm.

Dan Christ (43:27.248)

And he was 29 years old, four kids. And one of my closest friends. Maybe we had the same doctor, same everything. I just caught it a little bit sooner and were able to be extremely aggressive with it. So it wasn't an advanced stage by any means, but it was, we gotta take care of this. But that just made our whole family go, life is fragile. And that was before anything heart-related. So...

Chris Kiefer (43:32.878)

Hmm

Chris Kiefer (43:54.966)

Mmm.

Dan Christ (43:55.984)

You know, of course the hard thing, put that in perspective. Like, wow, we just made it through that. Well, again, it goes to with whatever challenges you face. They're significant. What can you learn through it? And how can you overcome it?

Chris Kiefer (44:04.799)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (44:09.01)

So last or last question that's kind of open ended, then we'll go to three book recommendations and your favorite movie. I ask everybody those. So last question is just like, what would, what do you, what do you hope that people take away from hearing your story or what is a lesson or thing to keep in mind or what's the like parting, um, thought or advice or

Dan Christ (44:11.774)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (44:16.63)

Okay.

Dan Christ (44:36.434)

Okay.

Chris Kiefer (44:36.746)

or a thing to contemplate with what you've been through.

Dan Christ (44:41.382)

You can make it through far more than you ever can imagine. You could. Didn't say that real well, but you can overcome any challenge that you face.

You can't necessarily get over it like that's in the past, but you can work through whatever it is you're facing. Don't give up. There's people there to help you and guide you. And I do believe faith in Christ really helps with that. But I believe you can make it through the challenges that you face.

Chris Kiefer (45:09.89)

Hmm. That's powerful. Um, yeah. Thank you again for today. Three book recommendations and they can be on this. They could be just like a fun fictional book, a self-help leadership, whatever, whatever you want.

Dan Christ (45:15.292)

Yeah, yeah.

Dan Christ (45:20.312)

Yeah, anything.

Dan Christ (45:26.204)

I would say related to this, related to overcoming challenges, I would highly recommend Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel, a psychologist who survived the Holocaust concentration camp. And what I love about his story is his ability and his desire to help others survive. I think that's just part of the human condition.

Chris Kiefer (45:48.022)

Mmm.

Dan Christ (45:53.436)

We've got to help each other. We've got to help others get through what's going on. So I highly, highly recommend that book.

Chris Kiefer (45:54.988)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (46:00.464)

Oh, you put me on the spot. I mean, it's probably among people of faith, one of the go-tos, but C.S. Lewis, mere Christianity. I mean, if you're struggling or exploring, trying to figure out faith or Christ, I mean, I know in today's world with the church and whatever, it's all about faith in Jesus. And I think his approach to faith is very helpful for the skeptic or just to try to

out of out of faith so mere Christianity.

Dan Christ (46:37.74)

I would say Timothy Keller, the prodigal god.

Chris Kiefer (46:42.198)

The prodigal god.

Dan Christ (46:43.944)

The Prodigal God. Awesome, awesome book. It casts some really cool teaching on what's my favorite story in the gospels of Jesus. Luke chapter 15, the parable of the prodigal son. Very small, easily read. It's, yeah, I love that book.

Chris Kiefer (47:01.934)

Hmm.

Chris Kiefer (47:09.882)

Awesome. And what is your favorite movie?

Dan Christ (47:12.697)

Moneyball.

Chris Kiefer (47:14.454)

Moneyball, that's it. I need to go watch that again. I just interviewed a friend of mine who's a professional basketball coach over in Europe. And he is applying some moneyball style tactics to how he's recruiting. But anyways, Moneyball is, it's a good movie. I haven't, I just haven't seen it probably since it came out back in 2011. Well, yeah, it's a good.

Dan Christ (47:23.281)

Yeah.

Dan Christ (47:30.78)

Yeah, cool.

Dan Christ (47:34.95)

Yes.

Dan Christ (47:38.532)

Yeah, makes me cry every time.

Chris Kiefer (47:43.454)

Well, yeah, thank you so much, Dan, for taking the time to share your story and grace everybody with just this. I feel like it's just to me, it goes back to the value of contemplating death before we're in that seat and we don't have a choice. You know, and I feel like it's just I've seen again and again how it's it really is the ultimate motivator to.

Dan Christ (48:04.276)

for sure.

Chris Kiefer (48:12.674)

to not wait, you know? And I think this is just cool to, it's not often that you get to chat with someone who's gone through what you went through. And it's just awesome that you feel comfortable and vulnerable enough to continue to pass that message on.

Dan Christ (48:15.449)

Yes, for sure.

Dan Christ (48:29.968)

Yeah, yeah. Well, my pleasure, Chris, for sure. I love talking about it.

Chris Kiefer (48:35.706)

And if so, well, last thing is if someone wants to get in touch with you, what is the preferred method of contact for them to do that?

Dan Christ (48:39.665)

Mm-hmm.

Dan Christ (48:43.876)

Yeah, well, probably email me. My email address is danjchrist at gmail.com. So D-A-N-J-C-H-R-I-S-T at gmail.com. I'm on Twitter, sort of on Instagram, but not really. Easily found on Twitter. But that's the best way to.

Chris Kiefer (49:06.971)

Awesome.

Well, yeah, I think if anyone wants to, we'll put those links down in the description. But once again, Dan, this was awesome. Thank you so much, I appreciate it. And I know we'll see you around Coeur d'Alene.

Dan Christ (49:15.772)

Yeah, yeah.

Dan Christ (49:22.412)

Excellent. Thank you, Chris. My pleasure.

Chris Kiefer (49:26.086)

All right.