Heart Recipients

The Brady Brothers

Ideopathic hypotrophic subaortic stenosis (IHHS) - the words alone could make your hair stand on end. Imagine being the first person in the world to receive such a diagnosis.

That's precisely what happened to George Brady 40 some years ago. Of course, you'd have to argue that with Claude.

Claude Brady, George's older brother, his that he was the first, although a few minutes of friendly bickering have him accepting third place, behind their sister, Sandra.

Left to right: Nancy and Claude Brady; George and Nancy Brady

IHSS, now known as cardiomyopathy, is hereditary heart defect that usually makes itself known in the teenage years. Fatigue, shortness of breath and a gradual deterioration in cardiac function ultimately result in a slow, frustrating, frightening death.

George and Claude Brady may be the only brothers in the country who have both received a heart transplant, whether for cardiomyopathy or any other condition. George received his new heart in 1985 after 45 days on the list.

Claude, on the other hand, went on the list in October 1988 and wasn't transplanted until eight months later. He suffered one false alarm, when Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was listed, thought is had a heart for him.

"Until that time, she was always calling it my heart transplant," Claude remarked, referring to his wife, Nancy. "After the false alarm, it became our heart transplant."

Nancy Brady was always referred to as "Claude's wife, Nancy," because not only do the Brady men share the experience of cardiomyopathy and transplantation, but they both have wives with the first name Nancy.

Claude and George frequently joked about moving all the way from Buckhannon, West Virginia, to northern Virginia to marry women named Nancy from West Virginia - Claude's Nancy is from Morgantown, George's Nancy is from Grafton. Morgantown and Grafton are only 30 miles apart. Both are about two hours from Buckhannon.

The coincidences help tie the family together in many ways. Having two heart transplant patients in the same family has made pre- and post transplant care a little easier. "Claude was calling George a lot to see if he'd experienced this symptom or that," Claude's wife said. "It's comforting to know that what you're experiencing is not uncommon."

Although their lives have been filled with ups and downs both pre and post transplant, neither has had second thoughts about the transplant.