U.S. Navy Veteran Kerry Bean feels like he has a new lease on life, thanks to a new heart.
Bean, 49, spent 64 days this past summer lying on his back in an ICU in Jackson, not knowing if he would ever leave.
“My heart was only working at 5% capacity. My kidneys were beginning to fail. They told me if I left there I might have three weeks.”
Bean stayed, wanting to experience more. Raised in Bruce one of 10 children of Alice and Pick Bean, he graduated from Bruce High School in 1985 and joined the U.S. Navy.
“I joined because I wanted a 4x4 truck,” Bean said laughing as he pointed at his big red vehicle. “No, I wanted to see the world.”
See the world he did.
“I was overseas more than I was in the United States. I’ve been so many places in the world, it’s easier for me to tell you where I haven’t been.”
For 20 years he sailed across every ocean and experienced every culture.
“I loved every experience, all the different cultures. I enjoyed original Chinese cuisine in Hong Kong, loved the food in Spain. The only thing I didn’t like was being out on the water for 45 straight days.”
Bean retired from the Navy in 2003 and began a brief career in law enforcement working in a jail in Seattle.
“I got bored with that and went to work for the railroad.”
It was while working for the railroad his failing heart was discovered.
“I was working one day in 2009, and something just happened and I dropped to a knee. I didn’t know what it was, but I kept going and worked for four more days before they told me to go to the hospital.”
He was put on various medications to compensate for his weak heart, but a transplant was the only long term solution. He returned home to Bruce and landed in the hospital in Jackson.
“They said I tried to die seven times, but my pacemaker went off and saved me.”
“All I could do was lie there on my back. I couldn’t get up, turn over or anything. Then they found a donor.”
After more than two months of lying almost motionless on his back, a heart became available and he was rushed into surgery. By that afternoon on Sept. 12, he was up walking.
“It took only three hours. As soon as you come out of anesthesia they have you up and walking. I was up pushing a wheel chair around the hospital with three tubes coming out of my heart. I’ve been going ever since.”
Ironically, at the same time he was undergoing surgery in Jackson, his brother Tony Bean, 57, of Bruce, was undergoing heart surgery at the V.A. in Memphis.
“I went for a routine checkup at the V.A. in Memphis and they did an X-ray on my chest and took me straight to surgery,” Tony said. “They said if I hadn’t come up there when I did, I wouldn’t have made it.”
Tony, who works at Weyerhaeuser, retired five years ago after a 22 year career in the National Guard.
He and Kerry came home to Bruce from the hospital about the same time and have been leaning on each other as they recover.
“We hadn’t seen each other in a lot of years,” Kerry said. “It’s been great to be back together.”
They drove to Seattle together to get all of Kerry’s belongings for him to move back to Bruce.
“That was a good trip,” Tony said. “We talked about a lot of things.”
Among those was their older sister Lula, a minister in Kansas City, who was in the hospital the same time they were, also with heart problems.
“She had heart problems before and had a relapse,” Tony said. “She didn’t make it.”
The loss of their sister amplified the thankfulness of these two brothers for the second chance they’ve been afforded.
“We enjoy all the time we get to spend together now,” Kerry said.
Kerry still travels to Jackson every two weeks for checkups and takes up to 30 prescribed pills a day, but is steadily progressing.
“People tell me to take it easy, but I have so much energy now,” said Kerry, who is working at Weeks’ Motors in Bruce.
“The strongest part of my recovery is the strength from Bruce,” Kerry said. “I don’t know about the rest of Mississippi, but Bruce has some great people. The moral support I’ve received has been great.”
The biggest challenge in his recovery is trying to eat healthy in Bruce, Kerry said.
“I’m facing fried food every where I go now.”
Kerry said it’s the simple things in life he loves most now.
“When you nearly lose everything, like I did, the things you miss the most are the simple things like going fishing with your big brother, washing your truck, mowing your yard.”
He’s gradually experiencing all those things.
“We’re trying to get a fishing trip up before it gets too cold,” Tony said.
“It’s a good feeling to be back home. I have a new perspective on life,” Kerry said. “I appreciate what I’ve got now.”