By Melissa I. Edelman
Pocono Record Writer

    He starts his speeches with "My name is John Dougan. I left my wife and my kids, but I came back because I had a change of heart."

    Dougan, 51, of Taminent, a heart transplant recipient and president of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Transplant Support Group, frequently speaks at social functions about his experience with heart disease. He will be speaking tonight at 7 p.m. at the Western Pocono Lions Club dinner at King Arthur's Restaurant on Route 209 in Sciota.

    Dougan's father suffered from heart disease until he died at the age of 41. His five uncles all died by the time they were 63 years old. Dougan was 28 years old when he experienced his first heart attack. It was followed by attacks of angina. By 35, he had quadruple bypass surgery.

    At the age of 46, Dougan went to Temple University in Philadelphia to receive a heart transplant. But it wasn't check in one day and check out the next. His stay was three months long.

    As an electrical engineer, Dougan worked with a lot of Foutune 500 companies. Nevertheless he told his wife during his initial visit to the hospital that he had more faith in the doctors than any project he had ever done.

    "While I was in the hospital I realized I was in the best place in the world," Dougan said. "They kept me alive by medicine and medical kowledge." While at the hospital, Dougan befriended 15 other heart transplant recipients waiting for hearts.

    Dougan's family includes his wife, Mary, a 23-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and two sons, Andrew, 11-year-old and Ryan, 7-years-old. Dougan said that he and his wife keep track on things the boys eat to make sure they don't have to go through the same ordeal.

    Seeing his wife and kids only on the weekends while in the hospital, Dougan created a new family with the other heart recipients and the staff.

    Finally on March 1, 1996, after being in the hospital since December 12, 1995, Dougan was getting a new heart. Dougan received his new heart only 80 days after his stay in the hospital.

    "I was lucky enough to get a heart quick," he said. "Now people wait nine months to a year for a new heart." Dougan says more people are now being diagnosed with heart disease and not enough people are donating organs.

    It's now been four years since the heart transplant and although, he doesn't know where his heart came from, he feels blessed.

    "If it wasn't for the kindness of a stranger, I wouldn't be here," he said.

    For more information or for tickets to attend the dinner call (610) 681-6224.

This story appeared on page B-1, Wednesday, September 20, 2000 in the Pocono Record.