Richard Kirchner

Rich Kirchner has always had an incredible heart. He is a loving son, husband, father, brother and friend. Rich has dedicated his life to the well being and safety of his loved ones, while working to rescue and protect complete strangers.

An active firefighter for 23 years, Rich went on to work for the following 20 years as a federal officer and educator. Throughout both career paths Rich earned the respect, trust, and admiration of his fellow officers, firefighters, coworkers and students. Known for being a faithful team member and hard worker, Rich is committed to fairness, rules, facts and the common good of community and country. At work and home Rich has always had a reliably innate ability to identify and fix problems.

In 1992 Rich was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, an aggressive and fast growing cancer. The tumor was in his chest cavity, located between his heart and lungs. The rounds of intensive chemotherapy and radiation eradicated the cancer but irreversibly damaged Rich’s heart.

By January of 2024 Rich was settled into his dream job and the Kirchner’s were beginning to explore their new West Virginia community. While they were leaving home to celebrate his 60th birthday, Rich had a massive heart attack. Due to Liz’s intervention, immediate medical care, and his own fierce tenacity, Rich defied the odds. He survived.

Now Rich is in a position he never imagined, this incredible heart is failing. His survival is in the hands of strangers. With only 10% heart function, Rich along with Liz and his amazing team of doctors, are quickly working to get him on the UNOS transplant list.

There are many unknowns in Rich and Liz’s future: waiting for an LVAD pump, a transplant, long hospital stays, surgeries, extended rehab, accessing long term housing close to the hospital and accruing medical costs.

What is certain about Rich’s future is that heart failure is inevitable; those who love him though, those who know him, know Rich will never have a failure of heart.

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There are not adequate words to express what the Kirchner’s mean to me and others. Rich and Liz, or Liz and Rich, depending on who you are talking to, are the absolute best of people. People consistently describe them as, kind, supportive, reliable, generous, friendly and quick to lend a hand.

In a world of role reversals, Liz would be writing this plea for a friend who needed financial help. Rich would be driving, building, and leaning in to ensure a friend’s medical needs could be met.

Married in 1996, Rich and Liz will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in October. Their daughters, Caroline and Hannah, have launched toward their adult independence from a home filled with unconditional love and stability. They are each proving to be as smart, loving, kind and hard working as their parents raised them to be.

The Kirchners are fundraising to support their navigation of this entire medical process. Their home is located over 2 hours from the transplant hospital. Excessive travel is not a good choice under the medical circumstances and a long term hotel would not provide an adequate kitchen. To meet Rich’s dietary restrictions and needs, the Kirchner’s must reside in a temporary home close to the transplant hospital just outside the D.C area.

The additional expenses are crushing in a situation where everything, every day, is so hard. The medical costs required to support a heart failure patient through transplant are astronomical. For a man so dearly loved, I humbly ask for your help.

All donations will go towards, co pays, medical bills, housing, medically related travel expenses and rehabilitation.