Avon Restaurateur Celebrates Seven Years with New Heart
By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
John Schneider, owner of Schneiders Restaurant in Avon, has a family that keeps on growing and if he has his say it will grow even more.
As the recipient of a heart, seven years ago, he is a member of a very exclusive club, but with emotions easily surfacing, he spoke of the donors and other recipients he has met as family.
Schneider received his heart seven years ago from a 39-year-old army reserve soldier who was killed in an accident while training. Over the last seven years Schneider has established close ties with the donor family and both families get together several times every year.
 Coaster Photo: John Schneider, who has a donated heart, and his wife Beverly work to spread the word about organ donation. |
The donors name is Robbi Seitz and at the time he left a wife and three month old baby, along with two older sons.
To celebrate the seventh anniversary of his operation Schneider and his wife Beverly drove out to Pennsylvania to visit the Seitz family.
The Schneiders have even visited the donors son, now seven, who lives in Germany with his mother.
Schneider makes a concerted effort to promote organ donation, keeping materials on display in his restaurant.
Many times, he said, people will inquire or stop to tell their own story about a loved one who is a recipient or donor.
One time when Schneider told a woman he was a heart recipient, she told him Im a donor mother. My daughter died last year.
I just grabbed her and hugged her its a gift that you have to want to give and the family has to agree, he said, his voice cracking as he spoke.
Both Schneiders are active in two donor organizations, Gift of Life, and the Sharing Network.
Schneider had his surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where there are five transplant doctors, who do nothing else.
The doctors who performed his surgery were identical twins.
It was the luck of the draw that they were on how much closer can you get than that in thinking and in skills, he said.
Seven years ago, before his operation, Schneider was suffering from congestive heart failure, with no known reason.
His sons now go out to the hospital periodically to be tested for future reference.
They want to make sure its not hereditary, he said. This way they have a history on them to see what happens when they get older.
A year after his operation Schneider participated in a 13-mile bicycle race in Florida during the Transplant Olympics.
The games are held somewhere in the United States every other year, with this years olympics in Pittsburgh.
Schneider has kept in contact with Seitz two sons, attending their high school graduations and now has been introduced to their children.
Now we know my donors grandchildren, he said.
Schneider admits not all donor/recipient relations work out so well.
Donor organizations have strict guidelines regarding the relationship to make sure all are in favor of meeting.
Its not an obligation on either part, Schneider said.
This year the Schneiders hosted a donor social event at the restaurant, attended by about 50 organ recipients and some donor families.
We went around the room and people started to open up. It was a fabulous thing I never knew we had all these people. They were from all walks of life, some were rich, some were poor each one had a story.
Most importantly Schneider wants to spread the word about organ donation and encourage people who want to donate to not only put it on their drivers license, but tell family members as well.
If its on the license, it may be too late by the time the family knows about it.
He said his donor had ominously told his own mother about his desire to be an organ donor only a month before he died.
It was like a premonition thats what Robbi wanted.
When he speaks to a room full of people Schneider said he still gets choked up talking about how lucky he is and the sacrifice that had to be made on his behalf.
When you think about what the donor family did….I still get tears in my eyes, its a gift you cant get any other way, he said after taking a very deep breath.
Contact Joanne Papaianni at joanne@thecoaster.net.
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