Relying on your support system is also crucial having family and friends who are there for you, as well as trusting the nurses and doctors who are taking care of you and making sure everything is as it should be, is half the battle. His advice to anyone anticipating a transplant of any kind is to be patient and to take it all one day at a time. “And I also didn’t have that many people to talk to who went through it a second time.” I was scared for other reasons,” remembers Compton. I was a young man trying to start a life and a family. At 28 years old, Compton went in for his second transplant in May 2008. With no internet in the ’90s, and not very many peers he could relate to, it was an isolating experience to say the least.īut an adult transplant was challenging for different reasons. I was very young so I was scared and excited at the same time for a new life,” Compton explains. “There weren’t as many people around that I could speak to. Luckily, he was able to hold out for a few months while he waited for a new heart. Seventeen years later, however, the main artery in the front of his heart was totally blocked and Compton suddenly needed a second transplant. Thanks to that first transplant, he was able to lead a normal and active life, and begin his astounding career in golf. When Compton was just 12 years old, he received his first heart transplant because of a dilated cardiomyopathy diagnosis at nine years old – his heart was unable to adequately pump blood as it should. So, I’m making a big push this year and that’s just what I’m trying to do, put one foot in front of the other.It all started in February 1992. “I love to play, but there’s been some people who’ve stepped up and made it possible for me to keep playing. “There’s been times where it’s been tough in the last few years,” Compton said. A solid round Friday would have meant a spot on the weekend, which would have meant a check, maybe even a chance to contend. His clubhead speed and ball speed, he insists, are good enough for him to compete with the best. It may have wavered a bit in recent years, but it’s still there.Ĭompton says he feels great, having just dropped 20 pounds. And I don’t see why I can’t continue to keep chasing my dream.” I’ve had a pretty solid career, but compared to a lot of guys I haven’t made the amount of dollars. “A lot of guys that are my age maybe aren’t necessarily as hungry because they’ve made a lot more money than I have. Open, the big spark in a year in which he earned $1.8 million - almost half of his $4.1 million in career PGA Tour earnings. He has never won on the PGA Tour his best finish was a tie for second at the 2014 U.S. He usually plays on the Korn Ferry Tour these days he has made one PGA Tour cut in only four tries since 2016 and was playing the Honda this week on a sponsor’s exemption. The 42-year-old from Miami has been a pro golfer since 2001. You honor the donor, just all the achievements that have happened through the years.” “I’ve always celebrated the date of my second transplant and my first transplant. ![]() “Obviously, 30 is going to be a big milestone,” Compton said. Still fighting.Īnd on Saturday, still celebrating, even without playing. ![]() He has been told multiple times that his sports career was over, multiple times that he could no longer play competitive golf. He drove himself to a hospital after having a heart attack in 2007, seven months before his second transplant in May 2008. Those words weren’t hyperbole, and certainly don’t just apply to him playing golf. “I’ve got more pressure experience in my life in the field combined,” Compton said. He has fought and fought and fought since, and an opening round of 1-under 69 at the Honda Classic on Thursday was yet another reminder that he’s made a career out of defying absurdly long odds.Īnd Friday's second round of 12-over was a reminder of how tough things can be for Compton. 26, 1992, when Compton - then 12 - got the first of two heart transplants, needed after he was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart becomes inflamed and cannot effectively pump blood. Instead, he’ll have to settle for it being the 30th anniversary of his getting a second chance at life.
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