What Gavin Ford thought was shortness of breath turned out to be a life-threatening heart condition.

Public service is in Gavin Ford’s blood. Gavin idolizes his grandfather, a deputy fire chief, and grew up hanging around a fire station in the Pleasure Ridge Park area of Louisville. His father is a local police officer.

Gavin, 16, wants to follow in their footsteps.

“I want to be a firefighter and arson investigator,” he said. “It’s important to help others in their time of need.”

After overcoming a life-threatening diagnosis and receiving a heart transplant, Gavin, a junior at DeSales High School, is one step closer to his dream career.

An undiagnosed heart condition

Gavin and his family have experience with heart conditions. His mom and grandfather both have cardiomyopathy, a condition when there is something wrong with the heart muscle and it cannot pump blood through the body the way it should. Kids can be born with cardiomyopathies or acquire them from certain diseases or viruses.

Despite the family history, Gavin had no traces of the condition. That changed in August 2024.

Right before the start of the school year, Gavin developed shortness of breath and pain in his leg. He’d broken the other leg earlier in the summer and recently had surgery on his nose to repair a deviated septum. The symptoms got chalked up to being from those injuries. But when the issues continued, Gavin was taken to the emergency room.

After a series of tests and scans, doctors suspected an issue with Gavin’s heart. He was transported to Norton Children’s Hospital, where the team at Norton Children’s Heart Institute confirmed Gavin had cardiomyopathy and was in heart failure.

“I was scared and kinda thought they were messing with me, honestly,” Gavin said.

“After hearing it, we were able to piece everything together, but it completely blindsided everybody,” said Michael Ford, Gavin’s dad.

Gavin needed a new heart. His heart team quickly developed a plan as they put him on the transplant list.

“We saw Gavin had pretty severe heart dysfunction and required a lot of advanced treatment,” said Terri Massey, APRN, Norton Children’s Heart Institute. “Gavin is a special young man, and we were going to do everything we could to help him.”

Gavin was admitted to Norton Children’s Hospital while he waited for his new heart. After waiting 1½ months, the call came Oct. 2. Gavin had matched with a donor and would receive his new heart that day.

“I was nervous but also excited,” Gavin said.

Bahaaldin Alsoufi, M.D., chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Norton Children’s Heart Institute, along with his team, performed the transplant.

A little more than two weeks after his transplant, Gavin left Norton Children’s Hospital with his new heart and renewed hopes for the future. While the immediate plan involves recovering, playing videogames and spending time with friends, Gavin has his sights set on his career and helping others.

“I’m real appreciative,” Gavin said. “Getting to live longer, is just, something I never thought I’d have to be appreciative for. But I am.”

Dad hopes others will sign up for organ donation

While spending almost two months in the hospital is a long time, it’s a relatively short stay compared with many children on the heart transplant waiting list. According to Michael, Gavin’s age and size made him eligible for a larger donor pool. For young kids, that pool is much smaller, and the wait is typically much longer.

“I know many kids wait a long time for a new heart,” Michael said. “We never want anything to happen to anyone, but if the unthinkable happens, being an organ donor is truly a lifesaver.”