A 100 mph dash for life: Minnesota state troopers race to get heart to transplant recipient

Members of the Minnesota State Patrol were reunited this month with a man whose life they helped save by racing a new heart about an hour away for transplant surgery.

John Neuenschwander, the 73-year-old transplant recipient, met with Lt. Mitch Elzen and troopers Quentin O’Reilly and Mike Pevear on Jan 2., months after they drove his new heart from the Twin Cities area to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

The meeting came months after Neuenschwander went to the hospital in late October in cardiogenic shock. 

His heart wasn’t pumping enough blood to keep his organs functioning properly, said Dr. Mauricio Villavicencio, surgical director of the Heart and Lung Transplant Program at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

He needed a heart transplant and Villavicencio knew time was of the essence since surgeons have about four hours after a heart is removed to give it to another patient.

Villavicencio reached out to the Minnesota State Patrol to see what they could do to help them get the heart to his facility. He spoke to MSP dispatchers, who relayed information to Elzen, the on-call supervisor that night.

The call came in one Sunday evening, Elzen told USA TODAY.

Normally, medical staff will travel in one vehicle while state troopers drive close by to escort them. The medical crew transporting the heart during evening rush hour that night got stuck on a stretch of highway, a spokesperson from the Mayo Clinic said.

Lt. Elzen didn’t think being in separate vehicles was the safest option this time around, so he suggested medical staff ride in the back of patrol vehicles so state troopers could drive them there quickly and safely.

“There's a lot of construction going on this summer and this fall,” Elzen told USA TODAY on Friday morning. “They didn't have a whole lot of time. They were already running behind on time trying to get that heart down to Rochester ASAP and get it implanted in the recipient.”

Elzen checked in with troopers to see who was available to help and looped in trooper Pevear, who was about 2 miles away from where medical staff was waiting in the metro area with the heart.

Transporting a heart was a new task for state troopers

Trooper Pevear was the first to meet medical staff and transport the heart. He spoke to trooper O’Reilly to coordinate a meetup.

He let the medical transport company know where he was and turned his emergency lights on so they could find him. Once the medical transport company arrived with the heart, the employee got into Pevear's car with the heart in tow and they took off.

“I was on the first leg and then I made my way down to the district line, which is in Cannon Falls,” Pevear said. “That's where me and Quentin met up and we took it out of my car and put it in Quentin’s car.”

They’ve helped transport blood before but never a heart, the troopers said.

Pevear said the experience was different and “kind of surreal.”

Traveling between 80 and 100 miles per hour with their lights flashing and sirens blaring, they were able to get to Rochester safely and quickly. Trooper O’Reilly and the medical transport employee he was escorting to the Mayo Clinic just over an hour after his lieutenant got the call.

Troopers, lieutenant reunite with heart recipient

The lieutenant and troopers met Neuenschwander on Jan. 2 after he recovered.

O’Reilly, one of the troopers, said it was great that they got to meet him and it was nice to see that he’s healthy and doing well.

“Thankfully, we're trained to drive fast and safely and it turned out to be something super great for the patient because now he’s healthy and on the mend,” O’Reilly told USA TODAY Friday morning. “We were in the position where we were … just a quick few phone calls away.”

Elzen, the supervisor that night, said the team “did a small part” in the process. The real credit, he said, should go to the doctors, who thanked them in return.

“We really appreciate what they did and the services that they provide … that resulted in a new life for a human being," said Villavicencio, the surgical director who made the call. "Every transport counts and this one was very successful thanks to them.”

Heart recipient is grateful for the people who made his transplant happen

Neuenschwander, the patient in need of the heart transplant in late October, grew up in Fessenden, a small town in central North Dakota, where he had a pretty “colorful” childhood with lots of adventure.

He first began having health issues in 1984, when he was in his 30s. He was often exhausted and experienced shortness of breath.

He’s glad his new heart was able to be delivered safely to the hospital in Rochester that night and said “it takes a village” to get things done.

“The time was limited,” he said. “My heart was failing and hearts only last so long.”

He is full of gratitude for his heart donor who gave him a new chance at life, medical professionals in the Sanford health system in Fargo, North Dakota, where he lives and the MSP staff who transported his heart to Rochester.

He’s also thankful for the doctors at the Mayo Clinic, who he calls “the gold standard for healthcare in the country."

A self-proclaimed energizer bunny, Neuenschwander said he’s spending time reading these days and finding purpose. 

He has challenged himself to live by a new philosophy. “More meaning and less tasks.”