One heart. One hope. One chance …

My heart problems began at just 38—right in the middle of my running days. I went from doing 15 miles a week to failing a stress test and being rushed into a quadruple bypass. I recovered quickly, but the years that followed brought two heart attacks, a TIA mini-stroke, and 13 stents. For decades, I’ve carried nitroglycerin pills just to manage daily angina.

This year, everything changed. My angina became unpredictable, and my energy collapsed. My cardiologist discovered that my ejection fraction is a dangerously low 12%, eliminating the possibility of another bypass and leaving a transplant as my only option. A final attempt to place new stents showed the full severity:

My LAD artery is packed with stents inside stents and now blocked with scar tissue and is now 70% stenosed.

My RCA artery is completely closed.

My circumflex is 50% blocked.

I was referred to the heart transplant team at Baylor Scott & White in Dallas, one of the top programs in the country. After a week of evaluations, I learned a new heart could give me 15–20 more years of life.

Medicare will cover most of the $1.3–$3 million cost of the transplant, but the financial strain we face is overwhelming. Because my wife, Bonnie, will be my full-time caregiver, neither of us can work for at least six months, possibly longer. We are a two-income household, and losing both incomes at once is devastating.

This is why I’m humbly asking for help. We’re trying to raise $50,000 to cover our basic living expenses during this critical time.

Bonnie and I believe deeply that God will carry us through this. We’re holding onto faith, hope, and one another.

If you can support us—whether through a donation, sharing our story, or your prayers—we are truly grateful.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Sincerely, Marcus Marrs

PS. Unfortunately, I’m currently not able to work because of a broken ankle. My cardiologist was trying to control my angina with medication but this was causing me to pass out upon standing. On 11/26, I passed out and caught my left ankle under the tire of my company vehicle and severely dislocated my tibia-fibula and also fractured the ends of those bones.