Former UNLV soccer star Simon Keith has 2nd heart transplant
Former UNLV soccer star Simon Keith underwent a second heart transplant Sunday and was recuperating in the intensive ward at University of San Diego Hospital.
Keith, one of the world’s longest surviving heart transplant recipients, also is expected to undergo a kidney transplant during the next 48 hours. The 53-year-old Keith received his first heart transplant in 1986.
After his UNLV career, Keith was the first overall pick of the Cleveland Crunch of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He is now CEO of the Simon Keith Foundation, founded to create awareness and raise funds for organ donation.
“It’s been 32 years with this heart, and they don’t really last that long,” he said in December after he was put on the list for a second donor heart. “I’ve been very fortunate. But it’s deteriorated enough to where my kidneys are shutting down.”
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.