Patti McClure, (“Miss Patti” in western North Carolina) learned the art of storytelling from her mother. She has entertained people of all ages for more than 30 years with lively renditions of everything from nursery rhymes and fairy tales to North Carolina ghost legends.
When Patti started teaching school, she started telling stories. “I do a lot of them” she said. “You know, doing them instead of just reading them.”
Before her first heart attack in 1991, Patti considered herself healthy and fit. She was only 51, didn’t smoke or drink; her lifestyle was far from sedentary. In addition to teaching third grade and performing her stories, she was a certified water aerobics instructor at a local health club.
The second attack, just two months later, left her heart functioning at 22 percent. With the third attack, in 1993, the doctors warned that without a heart transplant, she probably wouldn’t live another year.
In December 1993 Patti received the heart of a 21-year-old man, at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Because she received the last available heart of the year, she refers to it as “the Christmas heart of ’93.” Ten days later she was celebrating Christmas at home with her family.
Patti became a participant in the U.S. Transplant Games sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation to showcase the ability of organ transplant survivors to lead active lives. She won gold medals in 1996 at Salt Lake City for the 1,500-meter race-walk, the 5K organ donor run, the 50-yard free-style swim and the 50-yard breaststroke.
Organ donation advocacy through Life Share of the Carolinas and New Hearts has become almost full-time for Patti.
“I’ll go anywhere and talk to anybody,…and tell what I call my ‘heartwarming story.’ I’ve hit every place and talked to anybody who would listen about the importance of being an organ donor,” she said.