12-02-2025
Griffins to honor heart transplant recipient
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Grand Rapids Griffins game on Feb. 19 will be a memorable one for one West Michigan woman as the team raises awareness about heart health.
Tracy Meier has been a huge Griffins fan for the last 15 years.
'I saw both Calder Cup wins,' she said.
She even won a 'flyaway fan' experience in the spring of 2024.
'They were going to fly me to Chicago for a couple games there for the weekend,' Meier explained.
Sadly, that never happened.
'In June of 2023, I went into the doctor's office with shortness of breath. I couldn't walk from here to there without having to stop,' Meier said. 'They did an EKG in the doctor's office and immediately sent me to the hospital.'
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After being transferred to the Corewell Health Fred & Lena Meijer Heart Center in downtown Grand Rapids and undergoing lots of tests, doctors determined Meier had heart failure.
'It had to do with my radiation and chemo that I had years ago,' she said.
After spending 42 days in the hospital that summer, Meier left with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which helps the heart pump blood more effectively.
'I had that for eight months,' Meier explained. 'I had (prior) problems with blood clots and stuff, so I couldn't go directly onto the heart transplant list. I had to get approval through my neurosurgeon that the clots were stable and once I got that, they put me immediately on the heart transplant list.'
It was right around this time she won the flyaway fan experience.
'I had to get (doctor) approval and they're like, 'Yeah, you can go, but you're going to have to be off the heart transplant list,' which I had just gotten on and I said, 'Well, I can't go then.' And the clinic said, 'No, you need to go in and still live your life.' So I said 'OK, I'm going to go, but in the meantime, if it's meant to be, I'll get the call.'
It came about a week before she was supposed to go to Chicago.
'I think I just emailed them and said, 'I hate to cancel, but I'm going in for my heart,'' Meier laughed.
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Two weeks after her surgery, Meier couldn't believe who walked through the door of her hospital room: two Griffins players and — who himself had after a the previous year.
'They signed the heart pillow for me. They signed me a jersey,' Meier said.
Now, 10 months later, they're surprising her again.
'Are you going to be at the game next Wednesday? Like the 19th?' Griffins center Amadeus Lombardi asked Meier in the Corewell Health Grand Rapids Hospitals Care Center.
'Oh yeah,' she responded.
'Well… You might be dropping the puck,' Lombardi told her.
Meier and her care team erupted with applause.
'As hockey players and just in general, as people, we're so blessed. We're in such a good opportunity again in a great city, but just to be able to be able to do the thing that we genuinely love every day, it means so much to us and we want to give back to the community that helps us,' Lombardi told News 8. 'I've had family members in the past with cancer and it's a big cause and just everything she's been through. So we're excited for that.'
'The whole community has kind of brought us in with open arms,' Griffins left wing Cross Hanas said. 'The least we could do is give back as much as we can and doing a lot of stuff with the hospital is it's always something I kind of want to be a part of.'
Meier's story brings awareness to an important issue.
'Women over the age of 20, about 45% of them will have some risk factor for cardiovascular disease. So what I tell women is that you know your body, so when it feels different, you ask for help,' said Dr. Milena Jani, heart failure and transplantation cardiologist for Corewell Health.
She added that women often present different signs and symptoms of heart disease than men. Instead of having chest pain, they may have stomach pain, be more tired than usual or experience unusual sweating.
'Generally, those symptoms have to be taken seriously. It doesn't mean that always somebody is having a heart attack, but get evaluated by a doctor, because many times, we can control your risk factors to make heart disease much more preventable and treatable and manageable, rather than ending up needing a heart transplantation, for example,' Jani said.
Corewell Health event to help you understand heart health
Though Meier said there's no way she could have prevented her outcome, she does wish she would have gone in to see her doctor sooner.
'Be aware of your body. Don't ignore symptoms,' she urged.
More than 160 seats in the Van Andel will be dedicated to the Corewell Health transplant team and several patients during the Feb. 19 Griffins game. Meier will drop the puck at 7 p.m. and hopes to help raise awareness about heart health and organ donation.
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