ELKHART — Lyle Kuhmichel almost didn’t live to see his 45th birthday — but that was 15 years ago.

In June 1997, Kuhmichel was at death’s door. He suffered a life-threatening heart attack that significantly damaged one of his body’s most vital organs.

“For me to live a normal life or to even live at all, doctors told me I would need a heart transplant,” recalled Kuhmichel, now 59. “They told me the average wait for a new heart was six months.”

Lyle overcame those odds, but it wasn’t easy.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “I’m able to live a normal life, and for that, I’m grateful.”

THE JOURNEY FOR A NEW HEART

Soon after his heart attack, a helicopter flew Kuhmichel to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. A team of doctors that traveled with him dubbed Kuhmichel the most critical heart patient in the state.

“They almost lost him on the ride there, as I understand it,” said Cate Kuhmichel, Lyle’s wife of 33 years.

Doctors evaluated Kuhmichel for an emergency surgery to fit him with mechanical heart pump that would keep his blood flowing while he awaited a new heart. But the operation didn’t go as planned. The head surgeon called Cate, who was sitting in a waiting room down the hall, to tell her that there was chance Lyle would not survive the surgery.

“I told the doctor he’s got four children that adore him, and he’s the love of my life,” Cate said. “I said, ‘Please just try. We have you covered in prayers.’”

Thirteen long hours later, Kuhmichel emerged from the operating room with a new heart pump. He had two more surgeries after that to relieve blood clots that were applying pressure to his heart.

“Everyone at the hospital down there said he was a miracle, that there was no reason other than prayer and God that he would have been alive all this time,” Cate said.

That August, almost two months after his heart attack, Kuhmichel found out that he would at last be getting a new heart. The donor was an 18-year-old man who died in a car accident.

“Before the doctor could get my heart out of my body, my heart literally broke into pieces,” Lyle said. “That’s probably a sign that I may not have had much more time before my heart would have expired.”

Kuhmichel woke up the next morning a new man.

“I felt like a million bucks,” he said. “My world was 1,000 percent better.”

LIFE AFTER THE TRANSPLANT

Kuhmichel recovered in the hospital for 10 days before going back home to Elkhart.

“When we got home, we must have carried in two grocery sacks full of medications,” he said.

Kuhmichel was out of the hospital but still healing. He took at least 15 different pills twice a day to help rebuild his immune system, fight off infections and allow his new heart to adjust to his body.

“I helped him count his pills,” said Anna Kuhmichel, Lyle’s youngest daughter, who was only 6 years old when he had his heart attack. “I knew how many of each color he needed.”

Now, Kuhmichel is down to eight medications and exercises a few times a week to keep his heart healthy.

“My heart has ticked flawlessly ever since,” he said. “I feel very blessed.”

Anna is a senior at Purdue University and has a close relationship with her father.

“When I got my driver’s license, he took me to go get it,” she said. “Most kids think about how great it is go get those car keys. They think about how awesome it is that they don’t have to have their parents in the car with them anymore. But I think the proudest moment for me was him sitting next to me and the lady asking me if I want to be an organ donor. I just pointed to him. If someone didn’t put that little donor heart on their license, he wouldn’t be around right now.”

Cate said she couldn’t imagine life without her husband.

“At the time, we had a little kindergartener and three boys in elementary, middle and high school, she said. “Their lives would have been totally different had he not been able to be there for them, for the weddings, for all the grandchildren as they’ve arrived. We are the luckiest family around.”