Nearly 11 months after having life-saving heart and kidney transplant surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, 63-year-old Harold Baines, who is a Hall of famer, coach and ambassador for the White Sox organization is excited to be back in the mix of baseball.
Baines recently threw out the first pitch at the White Sox’s home opener at Guaranteed Rate Field. “I’m excited to get back after two years and not being there. Today, I just take it one day at a time,” Baines says.
“It’s a second chance,” his wife Marla shares. The couple have been married for 37 years and have four children and six grandchildren. “We would have taken an extra year or two. He’s back now almost like it never happened.”
On the field Baines was a strong defensive presence in the right field early in his career with the White Sox. He would later on become one of baseball’s premier designated hitters.
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“There’s nothing worse than this”
Naturally, as an athlete, Baines was no stranger to surgeries. After 22 years of a professional baseball career, he’d had 10 knee surgeries and a right knee replacement. But even the amount of surgery Baines underwent couldn’t prepare him for the eight-hour procedure he would need after being diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy.
“There’s nothing worse than this,” Baines says. “You are relying on somebody passing before you can live.”
Four or five years ago, Baines found out he had the familial amyloidosis trait from his father, Linwood Jr. The condition, which led to his father’s death before his 78th birthday, is a hereditary condition that is more common in people of African descent.
The condition is a result of a genetic mutation that produces an amyloid protein that forms into an abnormal shape. Once deposited and clustered in the body’s nerves and other organs, amyloid protein builds up. This can affect and harm tissue and/or organ function, according to the Mayo Clinic.
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Aside from fluid buildup in his legs, Baines wasn’t initially experiencing any symptoms. He underwent testing February 1, 2021. That same night he received a call from the hospital advising him to get to the hospital in two days because due to the restrictive cardiomyopathy his heart could not relax properly.
“He’s a great guy,” says Dr. Ahmet Kilic, Director of Heart Transplantation and Associate Professor of Surgery for Johns Hopkins University. “He just smiled and was upbeat the whole time. His family was really supportive of him, and he really didn’t complain much.”
Dr. Kilic's team evaluates how to best get a patient’s heart to recover. In most cases, it begins with medications from the cardiologist. If those medications fail, other alternatives may be considered.
For Baines, Dr. Kilic implanted a balloon pump to help the blood circulate. However, the balloon pump wasn’t helping enough, so Baines was placed on an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Machine (ECMO). An ECMO pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, which allows the heart and lungs to rest.
“I don’t want to sensationalize it, but it’s really one step away from death in many ways,” Dr. Kilic adds. “The entire blood supply from your body is being shunted through these catheters and to this device that oxygenates and pumps blood, so it acts to both the right and left side of your heart, as well as your lungs.”
Trusting the process
“Very very scary,” Marla adds. “Two of our daughters are nurses, so we would always talk to them about what the doctors and nurses were doing, what they are describing. And they would always give us more information and help us out, which is good. Harold’s dad died from this disease because he didn’t really know what he had, had waited too long to figure out what was going on.”
Baines “trust the process” mantra allowed him to embrace the journey and recovery without being scared.
“Some days, I did have bad days,” Baines shares. “It was hard work even after you get the transplant, what you have to do. You have to learn how to eat again, you have to learn how to walk again. It’s still a journey, but I’m in a better place now.”
Just five days after being placed on ECMO, a heart became available. Baines received a heart transplant on May 20, 2021. The next day, surgeons performed a kidney transplant.
The donor had to be between the ages of 18 to 39, had to be a male, and had to have the same blood type and the same height and weight as Baines, Marla shares.
The road to recovery
The next day, Baines was already in therapy. He could only take two steps at first and would have to sit down in a wheelchair. When attempting to sign a baseball for a nurse, he could barely hold the ball. He gradually worked his way up to 10 steps and walking the hallway two or three times.
Baines was released from the hospital on Father’s Day. His grandchildren were waiting on him.
Today his exercise consists of switching between the stationary bike, elliptical and treadmill for 30 to 40 minutes a day, six days a week. He jokes that even when he was healthy he didn’t run on the treadmill. He also mixes in band work for strength training. He is avoiding any weights until he is a full year removed from surgery.
“He’s doing well,” Dr. Kilic says. “Overall, he’s doing wonderful. He’s back to enjoying life and being an ambassador both for baseball and organ transplantation.”
His ambassador work not only includes being an advocate for organ donation, but also being a spokesperson for others that may be in need of a donor.
“I’m very thankful to the donor’s family for being on a donor’s card,” Baines adds. “I have to stress how important it is to be a donor. I remember Ed Farmer [long-time White Sox broadcaster and Baines' ex-teammate] was big on donors, and we would do something downtown every year. Little did I know I would need it one day.”
April is National Donate Life month. However, Baines has been stressing the importance of being a organ donor long before. He recently visited an older gentleman who was just getting started at Johns Hopkins. Seeing the positive result of Baines transplant gave the patient hope.
“That’s the least I can do, is keep awareness out there for donors,” Baines shares. “People die on the waiting list. I was one of the fortunate ones. I’m not going to start out doing PSAs or anything like that. If somebody needs me to visit and talk about getting a heart transplant, I’ll be happy to talk with them.”
Some transplant recipients have lived as many as 30-40 years post-surgery, “which is amazing,” according to Dr. Kilic. This means Baines could have many years ahead of him.
“We usually tell patients that 50 percent of the people are alive at 12 years," Dr. Kilic adds, "and 50 percent [of] people have passed away."
To get involved with organ donation locally, click here.
