BROWNSBURG — Those who know Jim Grande always knew he had a big heart, but no one suspected that it would be a problem for him.

After experiencing fairly good health throughout his life, Grande’s life changed forever on the night of March 23. He said he was feeling ill and decided that he’d better go to the emergency room. He was first diagnosed with reflux, and then bronchitis, but both turned out to be wrong. He said he was having trouble breathing while lying flat and doctors eventually decided he was suffering from heart failure.

”They told me that my heart was enlarged to the point that it was the largest they had seen,” Grande said. “They did an echocardiogram, which measures the ejection fractions on the left side of the heart and how much it’s pumping. It’s supposed to be between 60 and 75. Mine was 12. My heart just wasn’t pumping blood anywhere.”

Prior to that, Grande said he had once had a slight heart murmur, but nothing serious.

Grande said the diagnosis threw him for a loop as he had always been an active person. He played volleyball in college, coached his son’s Little League team and helped coach his daughter’s volleyball team.

Grande was transferred from Clarian West Medical Center in Avon to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where he spent 15 days in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit.

It was there that the Grande family got an official diagnosis: Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, believed to have been caused by an infection.

When Grande returned home on April 7, it was with a defibrillator and a special IV that gave him dobutamine, a medicine to make his heart pump stronger.

His wife, Cindy, explained, “Our hope was that it would help kickstart his heart into working a little bit better. He spent two weeks in the hospital at that point. They also put in a defibrillator because he was having irregular heart beats ­­‑‑ enough that if his heart didn’t kick it back into a normal rhythm, it would kill him.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t work so Grande was re-admitted to the hospital on May 13 after becoming sick again. At this time, doctors made plans to place a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) in him. The device sits by the left ventricle and operates on a battery. It would basically pump his blood for him.

It sounded good, but once the LVAD was inserted Grande developed a severe intestinal infection and an Ileus, which is where the top portion of his colon stopped functioning. He was finally able to go home six weeks later.

Cindy said the LVAD was strange.

”It’s a continuous pump, so you don’t have a pulse,” she said. “If you would feel on him, you wouldn’t feel a pulse when he had the LVAD. It even sounded like a motor, if you listen with a stethoscope.”

Grande was placed on the heart transplant list Aug. 13 as a 1A recipient, meaning that he was on the highest priority. He was the only one of his size and blood type on the list, which proved to be beneficial.

On Aug. 15, they learned that a heart had been found for him.

”We packed up and went,” Grande said. “It was very emotional.”

Cindy said they were surprised that a donor heart had been found so quickly.

”The surgeon came in and talked to us before the surgery and said that it was actually the third call they had gotten for him for a heart,” she said. “He didn’t feel that the other two were right for him because of the size, not just the blood type. To have that, and then a third one come along in the same time frame, is just mind-boggling.”

Grande received the transplant, is now back home, and says he’s feeling good. But he realizes that he’s not out of the woods.

”It’s not all behind us,” he said. “It’s just the beginning of a different road. Everything has gone fantastic (since the surgery). My chest still hurts from the incision, of course. When they break open your chest plate twice in three months, it takes it some time to heal. Besides that, everything has been fantastic.”

He will be on anti-rejection medication for the remainder of his life.

Cindy explained that there are different levels of rejection.

”The first two, he’s already gone through,” she said. “He could have the heart for 15 to 20 years and it could still go into rejection at some point.”

The Brownsburg community is hoping to give back to Grande, as he has given to them in the past.

A fundraiser, to help the family with all of the medical expenses incurred, will be from noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 16 at St. Malachy School’s Noll Hall. Cost is $8 per person for pre-sale tickets and $10 per person on the day of the event. There will be a hog roast from noon to 2 p.m. and a silent auction from noon to 4 p.m. that day.

The Grandes say the support they’ve already received from friends, neighbors, and others in the community has been overwhelming.

”Throughout this whole process, it has just been really humbling,” Cindy said. “Not just with the benefit and people donating things for that, but just on a daily basis. We had people bringing food, money, gift cards, and prayers upon prayers, especially when he was in the hospital for those six weeks.”

Grande added, “It just overwhelms me. It’s just been humbling, overwhelming, and emotional for us.”

For more information about the benefit, visit the website at www.aGrandeNewHeart.com. To follow Jim’s journey, visit the website at www.caringbridge.org/visit/jimgrande/journal.

ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com