Eric Sheets took several deep breaths while recounting the details of an inspirational five-year journey that was filled with gratitude, perseverance, love, and personal reflection – for himself and several others that benefitted from someone else’s selfless gift.

After all, there was a time when the 1983 mechanical engineering graduate was a fixture of good health as a former Fightin’ Engineer basketball player and recreational cyclist.

Then, every breath became a struggle. 

The effects of pulmonary fibrosis deteriorated Eric’s lung capacity to such a state that he couldn’t perform a simple breathing test, his listless body could hardly move around his home in Greenwood, Indiana, and he needed to take a leave of absence as an experimental test engineer with Rolls-Royce Corporation – his career for 38 years. He had developed a wicked cough, lost his appetite (dropping 30 pounds within nine months), and his fingertips had taken on a bluish hue from oxygen deprivation within his blood stream.

“I used to love taking long hikes with Stephanie (his wife) at state and national parks, admiring the beautiful scenery and wonders of nature. I’d take bike rides with my three sons and really liked coaching a homeschool basketball team. Then, over the course of three years and without any rhyme or reason, I went to being constantly out of breath, gasping for air, and became a shell of my old, happy self,” Eric recalls.

Then, the conversation took on a serious tone as the 62-year-old states, “I was a dead man walking.” 

A double-lung transplant through the Indiana Donor Network and doctors at Indianapolis’ Methodist Hospital was the only solution. He was considered a “perfect” recipient, with no past health problems.

“All that I had was a bad set of lungs,” Eric says.

Now all he needed was the “perfect” donor. 

That happened on November 30, 2018, after the death of Chase Crompvoets, an athletic California 18-year-old who had been attending Chicago’s DePaul University, following a seizure.

At the same time, lying in the hospital bed was Eric with Stephanie, a former Rose-Hulman cheerleader, nearby as a constant, loving companion. The couple and other family members had been through the emotional rollercoaster of possibly finding a prospective donor just three weeks earlier.

And they knew that there might not be another chance.

Chase’s lungs arrived and surgery started in the early morning hours of December 1 with a team of doctors and staff working feverishly to make the successful transplant. Every second mattered.

A day and a half later, Eric was wide awake and breathing on his own. He soon had enough energy to start taking daily walks around the hospital, building up his stamina each day.

“Within minutes (after the surgery), I immediately noticed more of a natural color coming back to his fingers and lips. He was returning to me,” said Stephanie. 

Eric left the hospital on December 18 and began physical therapy and a constant watch on whether his body would accept Chase’s gift of life.

Soon after arriving home from the ordeal, Eric wrote a Thank You letter to the Indiana Donor Network in hopes that it would get to anyone associated with the donor. “The Network passes along any letters, but there are no guarantees that anything will come from them. I understood that, but I just needed to express my sincere gratitude and report that their loss, however tragic, had helped give life to another. We were so grateful.”

Two other letters followed before a response finally came from Chase’s mother, Kelly Crompvoets, nearly four years after the transplant (December of 2022). The correspondence started with the heart-felt sentiment: “I have been trying to write this letter for four years …” 

Then in February of 2023, Eric and Stephanie traveled to California to meet Chase’s family. The special reunion took place in the family’s home, surrounded by photos and memories of a teenager who had registered as an organ donor (unbeknownst to his family).

“Everything about our time together was surreal,” Eric recalls. “We wanted to know everything about Chase, and they were happy to oblige. We found out what a special young man he was. And they were so happy to see that I was doing so well.” 

This is a special feel-good human interest story – one that’s been featured in the Indianapolis Star and other newspapers throughout the country. Eric and Stephanie now tell their inspirational story at church, college, and community events throughout the state in support of the Indiana Donor Network. They hope that more lives are saved by others on donor registries throughout the country. (Chase’s heart was given to a young mother of two boys in her final stages of congenital heart disease; his liver went to another patient, and his kidneys were donated to two different people. All those recipients are still alive today.)

“I believe there’s a reason why I’m still here and able to enjoy my wonderful life. It’s divine intervention along with the support of family, friends, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists. And there was a lot of medical technology, created by engineers and scientists, that contributed to my well-being. I’m a very fortunate man who has a new zest for life.”