Gus Harbert to Celebrate “Home Run For Life” With OKC Baseball Club
Oklahoma City resident shares long journey to a new heart; Will be recognized before Friday’s OKC Baseball Club game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark
Augustus (Gus) Harbert has an amazing story of survival that was 14 years in the making. He finally received his long-awaited heart transplant in November 2022.
As part of National Donate Life Month, Harbert will be honored during the first INTEGRIS Health “Home Run For Life” of the 2024 OKC Baseball Club season on Friday, April 5 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
“Home Run For Life” recognizes individuals in the community who have overcome a significant medical event with the help of their families, physicians and health care professionals. To symbolize the end of their battle against adversity, honorees take a home run “lap” around the bases during a pregame ceremony.
Harbert is no stranger to INTEGRIS Health or Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, as he was previously honored as a Home Run For Life recipient in 2018.
Back then, he was honored to commemorate his 10th anniversary of receiving a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).
Harbert was diagnosed with an enlarged heart, also known as cardiomyopathy, at the age of 29. In other words, his heart was unable to pump enough blood through his body.
After receiving some care in his native Tulsa, Harbert was referred to INTEGRIS Health.
He became the first person at INTEGRIS Health to receive an LVAD. Connected to the left ventricle of the heart and attached to the aorta, the LVAD takes over the function of circulating blood that the heart can no longer perform.
Fast forward to today, and Harbert has a new heart of his own.
“Now I have a heartbeat,” he said.
After 14 years of waiting, Harbert received his new heart on Nov. 2, 2022, at INTEGRIS Health Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City.
The journey wasn’t without its trials, as Harbert worked tirelessly to lose 130 pounds in order to become a heart transplant candidate.
He even moved to Oklahoma City in 2021 to be closer to the INTEGRIS Health Advanced Cardiopulmonary Care program so he could arrive quicker if a suitable heart became available.
Through it all, Harbert has the support of his family and credits the doctors and nurses at INTEGRIS Health for his experience.
“INTEGRIS Health opened their arms to me and treated me like family,” he said.
Harbert still has some work ahead of him as he navigates cardiac rehab appointments to ensure his heart is functioning properly.
With a new heart, and a new lease on life, he plans to spend time with his family and live his life to the fullest, as he always has.
INTEGRIS Health Heart Hospital at Baptist Medical Center is the only center in Oklahoma to offer the full spectrum of advanced cardiac care support that Harbert needed to survive. Whether a patient needs advanced heart failure care, LVAD, ECMO, total artificial heart or transplantation, INTEGRIS Health Advanced Cardiopulmonary Care is the only program in the state that can offer Oklahomans all of these options.
Harbert is sharing his story this April during National Donate Life Month in hopes it will encourage more people to be organ donors. Oklahomans have three options to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor. Residents can sign-up when renewing their driver’s license, visit LifeShareRegistry.org to sign up online, or call 800–826-LIFE (5433) and request a donor registration form.
