A new heart. A new hope. The story of Mallard Creek High’s ‘Miracle’ teen
It all started in September. A 17-year-old teenager, looking forward to a football season at Charlotte’s Mallard Creek High School, began waking up at all times of the night.
His heart was beating too fast. His chest was hurting.
His head was hurting worse.
Isaiah Cash, nearly 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, knew deep down that something wasn’t right. But he pressed on. He thought it might pass. He certainly didn’t think that, within weeks, he would be laying on an operating table in uptown Charlotte, having his chest cut open, his heart removed and a new one put in.
In September, he had never heard of dilated cardiomyopathy.
“It’s been real tough,” Cash said Friday. “I’m just dealing with a lot of stuff. Right now, I’m about a 7 on the pain scale (out of 10). I’ll get through it, though, with my family, my friends, my support system. I know I will.”
The disease Cash had affects the heart muscle, according to the Mayo Clinic. It usually starts in the heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, and makes it so the heart doesn’t pump blood as well as it usually does. For some people, the disease can cause heart failure, blood clots and sudden death. And it’s most common in men 20 to 50.
‘Daddy, Something’s not right’
For Cash, his symptoms became the worst they had ever been while he and his family were wrapping up a vacation in St. Thomas. That was Oct. 6, barely a month ago.
“He couldn’t breathe,” Cash’s father, Quinton Jones, said. “He started feeling bad the day before we came home. He said he was waking up and gasping for air.”
Jones said his son was complaining of chest pains, shortness of breath. Cash told his father that walking hurt.
When the family got home the next day, Oct. 7, everything was worse.
Jones said the family got off the plane and drove home. Before anyone could open a suitcase to unpack, Jones said his son came into the room.
“Daddy, something’s not right. I want to go to the hospital.”
‘It was a miracle’
Six days later, after many tests, doctors told the family that Isaiah Cash needed a heart transplant.
That was Oct. 13.
Two weeks later, Thursday, Oct. 29, Cash was put on the transplant list, his father said.
Everyone in the family was shocked with what happened next.
Barely 48 hours later, a heart was found.
One day later, on Sunday Nov. 1, Cash had successful heart transplant surgery.
“I asked God to find one within two weeks,” Jones said. “He did it within days. It was a miracle. Even the nurses said it. I don’t know, man. That is just the way God works.”
In the days and weeks before the surgery, however, doctors told his son that a return to football was not likely, and that news, plus thinking about open-heart surgery was tough.
Cash was in a low place.
That was before he got a surprise visit from his teammates.
A FaceTime call and a big smile
First-year Mallard Creek High football coach Kennedy Tinsley was constantly talking to Jones, Cash’s father, throughout all of this. And he kept trying to think of what he could do to really help.
The team decided to create a theme for the season, which begins in February. The Mavericks chose “Cash In.” It’ll be a hashtag on social media, too. But Tinsley wanted to do more.
So he sent a group text, nothing mandatory, hoping that a few players might join him at the Levine Children’s Hospital to say hello to Cash.
Only, a whole lot of Mavericks showed up.
Cash is on the sixth floor and the team gathered in the parking lot below his window. They FaceTime’d him while an autographed football and helmet were taken up to his room.
“You can imagine,” Tinsley said, “a big ol’ group of boys staring up in the window. It was amazing. I’m looking forward to so many lessons we can learn through this and his story. It can be over at any moment, not to say it’s over for him as far as football, but you want to make the most of your opportunities. You’ve also got to prepare for stuff other than football, so you can be successful in any circumstance.”
Jones said Tinsley has little idea how much the visit from the Mavericks and the Mavericks’ coach meant to his son. It came four days before his surgery.
“That was a blessing,” Jones said. “The nurses were out there looking, too. It was great. It was a good feeling and it brought a big smile to (Cash’s) face, to see his friends. He needed that. That helped him get ready for surgery. He was down. We didn’t know about the transplant. Just a lot of unknowns, but that seemed to help him block out everything. He stayed lit up all the way into surgery. He kept that same attitude.”
Said Cash: “That was a big deal. I loved it and it boosted me a little bit.”
What does the future hold?
Cash said every day is hard right now. But he said, other than the pain, he feels like himself. No one is sure exactly when Cash will be released, but Jones said the family is just thankful, right now, to be on the other side of this, to begin the recovery.
“Man, I’m blessed,” Jones said, “for all the prayers, God, and all the people that reached out; the nurses, the doctors at Levine. It’s been an amazing journey. The doctors are around him 24/7. I’ve never seen any doctors that I felt cared that much. That was great. Without them, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Jones said he is ready to do whatever his son needs, and he said he knows it will be a lot.
“He’s still going through a lot of emotions,” Jones said. “He’s 17 and all he knows is football. He loves football, and he’s very emotional. Each day is better. But he was in a lot of pain after the surgery. I asked the nurse how he feels. She said, ‘He’ll need y’all the most when he gets home because he’s going to feel like he was hit by a Mack truck.’ ”
Like his father, Cash said he was super appreciative of his medical team. He said the doctors helped explain what was going on and helped him get ready for the surgery as much mentally as physically. Still, he said, “it was a little scary.”
And now?
“It’s crazy,” he said. “Since my transplant, just wrapping my head around the fact that somebody else’s heart is inside you.”
His voice trails off.
Cash coughs a few times and his voice comes back stronger.
“Right now,” he said, “I plan to get better, day by day.”
Want To Help
The Mallard Creek community is trying to raise money to cover some of Cash’s medical bills and expenses. The goal is to raise $50,000 with all funds going to the family. You can click here to donate.
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
