In celebration of American Heart Month, we’re honoring a RMG guest who has fought to get a new heart of his own. Jeremy Forrest, a dad and physical therapist assistant, is no stranger to medical hardship. 

 In 1995 and 2000, he battled acute myeloid leukemia and survived, but his heart and other organs had received serious damage from the chemotherapy treatment. 

Jeremy was scheduled to have a bone marrow transplant, but days before the procedure, he found out that he was in heart failure. 

With a combination modern medical advances and Jeremy’s dedication to a healthy lifestyle, he lived a productive life for 20 years in remission. He finished college, became a physical therapist assistant, became happily married to Alicia, and had his son, Grayson “Cleat.”

Fast forward to the beginning of 2020, Jeremy and Alicia saw that his condition had begun to worsen. Soon after, the COVID-19 crisis hit the United States, and hindered Jeremy from making in-person visits. His televisits were only effective to show his physical well-being, but his heart was declining with each day. 

By October 1st, Alicia and Jeremy were able to visit their Birmingham doctor in-person. They were shocked to hear that Jeremy would not only need a heart, but he would need a kidney as well. 

 “We mentally prepared ourselves that he would need a new heart, but we were shocked that he would need another organ,” Alicia says. 

Jeremy was admitted to the hospital and placed on ECMO. (ECMO is used when life support is needed after surgery, or when you are very ill and your heart or lungs need help so that you can heal.)

 Alicia and her son, Grayson (known as “Cleat”) were in an unimaginable situation. With nowhere to stay in Birmingham, Alicia drove an hour and a half each day to remain close to Jeremy and take care of their 14-year-old son. 

 “My mom, dad and my son stayed at a hotel for five nights, but other than that, I was travelling back and forth every single day. There were some nights that Jeremy was so bad, I couldn’t leave him,” Alicia recalls.

His quick decline moved him to the top of the transplant list in the southern region in just two weeks. After many sleepless nights and endless prayers, Jeremy received his new heart on November 15th and his new kidney on November 16th. 

 Alicia recounts the experience, “I asked my mother during Jeremy’s heart transplant, ‘How am I supposed to feel?’ I just remember that the Lord had given me such a peace that was unexplainable. I knew that He would take care of everything.”

 When Alicia reflects on their experience from only a month ago, she says, “We didn’t have an option to go home after his surgery. We had to stay within 20 minutes, and we stayed four weeks. I can’t imagine what it would have cost us. This entire process is so emotionally and physically draining, but the apartment was somewhere we felt like we could heal as a family. It was clean and comfortable. We were fortunate to have family and friends who helped us financially, and we could have spent all of it on hotel. But because Red Mountain Grace has low nightly rates, we were able to put that money towards Jeremy’s medical bills instead of lodging. We could cover our regular expenses so now we’re not in dire straits at our real home. The Lord took care of us throughout it all.”

 Alicia and Jeremy are so thankful for their experience at Red Mountain Grace, and they hope to extend the same hospitality they were given to others.

Grayson “Cleat” hearing his dad’s new heart for the first time.