From One Pro To Another: Baseball Hall Of Famer Alive Thanks To NFL Player's Heart

ENCINO, CA — With the heart of an NFL player beating in his chest, Baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew visited an Encino Little League field Tuesday to give thanks and tell the world about the power of organ donation.

Flanked by heart donor and NFL tight end Konrad Reuland's family, Carew said he was given a new lease on life after suffering a heart attack in 2015. He spent nearly two years waiting for a donor. The donor turned out to be 29-year-old Reuland, who played for teams including the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens. The transplant would become the the first case of a pro athlete's organs being transplanted into another.

Reuland died Dec. 12 of a brain aneurysm at UCLA Medical Center, and Carew received Reuland's heart and kidney a few days later at Cedars-Sinai. It was weeks later that the Carew and Reuland families realized the connection.

"My friend upstairs gave me another opportunity to continue his work, so that's why I was left behind," Carew, 71, said Tuesday at the gathering in Encino. "And I've got a great partner in Konrad. He gave me a strong heart. You know, every day the doctors came in they would say, 'Boy he's roaring today."'

The connection between the Orange County residents, which occurred completely at random, made international headlines when it was revealed last week. The happenstance was even more special, given that Carew was a hero of sorts to Reuland when the future football player was a child. When he was 11 years old, Reuland even got to meet Carew when he was attending St. John's Episcopal School in Rancho Santa Margarita because Carew's two children were attending the same school.

"All he talked about for the rest of that day was, 'I met Rod Carew!"' Reuland's mother, Mary, said earlier this month.

Sitting next to Carew on Thursday in Encino, Mary Reuland said she is a woman of faith, and "I know one day I will see my baby boy again."

As for her son's still-beating heart, "It was just a wonderful thing to be able to hear a part of my son still here on Earth."

Carew, the Reuland family and the American Heart Association are hoping the publicity surrounding the donation will spur others to become donors. According to the AHA, heart and cardiovascular diseases cause more than 801,000 deaths annually. Yet heart transplants remain relatively rare, with about 2,800 such procedures performed in the United States in 2015, and there is still a long waiting list of people waiting for a donor.

By City News Service

First photo: Baseball Hall of Fame member Rod Carew throws out the first pitch during the 81st MLB All-Star Game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on July 13, 2010. Photo by Mark J. Terrill-Pool/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images.

Second photo: Konrad Reuland of the New York Jets in action during their preseason game at MetLife Stadium on Aug. 29, 2013. in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images.