Munday receives dual heart, liver transplants

Muhlenberg County native Mike Munday became the first person in the state to ever receive a dual transplant of both a heart and liver on March 22. Just 22 days later he is home in Graham, recovering and getting better by the day.

Munday, who is 55 years old, spent the better part of a decade suffering from heart issues. He said doctors told him years ago his heart was damaged by a viral infection and it was operating at about 25% of normal capacity. He had been living that way until things started to get worse back in July, 2021.

“Last year, in July, I called 911 three times,” Munday said, “and the third time, I was in a ventricular storm.”

That ventricular storm, defined as three or more sustained episodes of abnormal heart rhythms, landed Munday in the hospital for 60 days.

Munday would go on the spend a total of 74 days in the hospital in 2021, and had episodes where he was resuscitated and brought back from death. He was able to be home throughout the holiday season, but in January he was hospitalized again and stayed there until April 13.

“I died a couple of times. There wasn’t much hope for me, I needed an immediate transplant,” Munday said.

On Jan. 6, Munday was being driven to Jewish Hospital at University of Louisville by his old friend Paul Ashby, for a routine heart catheterization. It was a wintery morning, snowing as they made their way. Around Elizabethtown the pair would end up in a pile-up that would make the evening news.

There were reports of 30 vehicles involved in a chain-reaction crash on the Western Kentucky Parkway, and Munday and Ashby were caught in the middle of it. Ashby was not injured, but Munday sustained bruising. An ambulance would take them the rest of the way to his appointment but Munday would end up staying there until after his transplant surgery.

Now the waiting would begin. Munday was on a list to receive organ donations, but he needed to have both a heart and liver from the same donor, something that took time. “The wait is far worse than the surgery,” Munday said.

The surgery was performed by teams of doctors and took 12 hours to complete.

Getting out of bed and walking, exercising by doing leg lifts, and using eight-pound weights became part of Munday’s routine. He thinks this helped him recover so quickly. He continues to exercise daily, and has lost nearly 20 pounds since returning home.

The love and prayers from people near and far helped, Munday said. Churches sent cards from Indiana, Tennessee and all around Muhlenberg County.

Hospital staff also helped keep Munday’s spirits up. “It was 50, 75, 100 people that lined the hallway at the elevator when I went down for surgery,” he said. There were five or six different units, and Munday said they all loved him to death.

Munday is glad to be back home now, and getting used to life without his former heart issues. He’s able to do a lot of things for himself again, and is glad to have the swelling and edema going away enough to get shoes on again. His voice shakes a bit, and he has had some tremors in his hands, caused by the transplant medication he is taking now.

“I’m getting stronger every day, and I can tell it. But I feel good enough that I have to be careful,” Munday said. He has to be careful not to overexert himself as he eagerly tries to get back to everyday life.