Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/486631
photography by brad swonetz; opposite page: courtesy of simon Keith Simon Keith got a second chance at life, and now he's paying it forward with the Nevada Donor Network and his own foundation. ESPN knows a great story when it sees one. This spring, an episode of its newsmagazine show E:60 will feature Simon Keith, the former professional soccer player and charismatic Las Vegas businessman who heads the Nevada Donor Network. Keith's sports career may not seem particularly compelling—he competed for the UNLV Rebels and for a few years as a pro—but that's not why ESPN wanted to profile him. It's because he was the first person to play professional sports after a heart transplant. The story begins in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1984, when Keith, at 19, was diagnosed with myocarditis, a heart ailment that can lead to sudden cardiac death. He stubbornly continued playing soccer, gradually his condition worsened, and two years later his parents were told he had only weeks to live. The search for a donor heart led Keith and his parents to England, where he was born and where he would be given a second chance at life with a transplant at age 21. Back then, life expectancy for a heart-transplant recipient was seven years. Amazingly, Keith returned to being a hard-charging forward on the field, and in 1987 he moved to Las Vegas and joined his brother Adam on the UNLV soccer team. Two years later he was the number-one draft pick in the Once MOre, With heart Former ProFessional soccer Player Simon eith is one oF the world's longest-living heart transPlant reciPients, and soon the vegas resident will be sPreading the word about organ donation on esPn. by barbara peck 48 vegasmagazine.com PeoPle Power Strip