Heart Transplant Patient Story

Hazim Saeegh's heart transplant

Bloomfield Hills, MI
Heart transplant

When you meet Hazim Saeegh, you quickly learn that he is a grateful man. He’s grateful for his family – his wife Gail, four grown children, their spouses, and 10 grandchildren. He’s grateful for the entire Henry Ford Heart & Vascular staff on floor K14 of Henry Ford Hospital. He’s grateful for all the people who prayed for him during the months leading to his transplant. And most of all, he is grateful for his new heart and a second chance at life.

Hazim Saeegh's journey

Saeegh’s journey began more than 30 years ago, when he suffered a heart attack and underwent cardiac bypass surgery. Over the years, his heart condition continued to decline, requiring angioplasty and stenting, another cardiac bypass, and a defibrillator implant.

In August 2012, Saeegh was in acute heart failure when he came to Henry Ford Hospital hoping for a miracle.

“I was in really bad shape and they immediately had me meet with the LVAD team,” says Saeegh.

Saeegh had a first and then a second ventricular assist device implanted while he waited for a heart transplant. On his wedding anniversary, he learned the news that a donor heart had been found. The next day, February 17, 2013, Saeegh received his heart transplant and a second chance at life.

“When my wife wasn’t at my hospital bedside, she was at church,” says Saeegh, who credits his family’s faith in God for sustaining them through the difficult months leading to his transplant. “Everyone was praying for me.”

As a living expression of gratitude, Saeegh and his son donated landscaping services to their family’s church.