Community Corner

Se-Wy-Co Volunteer Gets His Heart Transplant

Volunteer fire police captain Bob Gearhart, of Lower Saucon, received the life-saving transplant at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia Aug. 4.

The waiting is finally over for Bob Gearhart, a Lower Saucon Township resident and volunteer fire police captain with .

Gearhart, 56, received his new heart during a 10-hour surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia Aug. 4, his sister-in-law Janene Koehler reported Saturday.

Although he developed some complications that required a second surgery on Aug. 11, Gearhart is now stable, she said, and in good spirits.

Find out what's happening in Hellertown-Lower Sauconwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Everything looks really good and he might be going home by Wednesday (Aug. 24)," she reported at , where she was manning a booth set up to help collect donations for his continuing care.

Koehler said that even with insurance, the cost of medication Gearhart will be required to take for the rest of his life is expected to be up to $600 per month.

Find out what's happening in Hellertown-Lower Sauconwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In conjunction with the National Transplant Assistance Fund (NTAF) Koehler said Gearhart's friends and family are hoping to raise $25,000 to help pay for medication and to help cover expenses associated with the surgery that were not paid for by insurance, such as a hotel stay for his wife.

"We're not even half way there yet," she added.

Koehler said donations to benefit Gearhart can be made to the NTAF.

Checks should be made payable to the NTAF Mid-Atlantic Heart Transplant Fund with "In Honor of Bob Gearhart" printed in the memo section of the check. Donations should be mailed to NTAF, 150 N. Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120, Radnor, PA 19087.

Credit card contributions may also be made online at www.NTAFund.org.

Koehler said she's also organizing a Basket Bingo fundraiser to benefit Gearhart that will be held at Se-Wy-Co on Oct. 16. Anyone interested in attending may contact her at 610-972-7874 for tickets.

In the meantime, she said, hundreds of cards of support will be hung on Gearhart's home in time to welcome him back from the hospital.

"He's waiting very anxiously to get home," she said.

Referring to his volunteer fire police duties, she said he's also anxiously awaiting the day he can return to those.

"This is his life," she said of his commitment to Se-Wy-Co. "We're trying to get him all the help they need."


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