After Receiving New Heart, Air Force Veteran Ready For 2019 Boston Marathon

BOSTON (CBS) - For one Boston Marathon runner, the race is all about heart.

Air Force veteran Conor Sullivan of Quincy is a transplant patient, and he says just being able to participate is a victory.

"I'll always be working toward being 100 percent, but I'm definitely a lot better than I was," he says.

In early 2016, Sullivan was in his third year in the Air Force, stationed in Little Rock Arkansas; a mechanic working on C-130s. He was losing weight and thought he had the flu. He went to the clinic on base to get checked out and was told he might have a heart murmur. His condition continued to worsen, landing him in a local emergency room.

"A few other organs were failing as well," said the 25 year-old Sullivan. "They didn't tell me immediately that – 'Hey, you need a heart transplant', or 'You're going to need this heart pump.'"

He was moved by air ambulance from Arkansas to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he had an LVAD implanted; a pump to keep his heart working while he waited for a transplant.

"Being on the transplant list – it's a constant worry in your mind of when you're going to get the call, if you're going to get the call… if the LVAD is going to clot… if anything worse is going to happen to your heart while you're waiting for a transplant," he said.

While he couldn't run with the LVAD, Conor continued to work out regularly, which his doctors believe helped with his post-transplant recovery.

"I still went to the gym. About 15 days before my transplant, I did 110 floors on the stair climber," he said. "I really pushed myself with the LVAD, so physically I was fine."

Eighteen months after being put on the transplant list, the call Conor and his family had waited for, finally came -- in the middle of the night.

"I was actually asleep," he explains. "They called me first, then called my wife, then called my parents – because we were all sleeping. I was about the last person to find out I was getting a heart," said Sullivan, smiling at the memory.

But the call was just a step in the process. Even then, Conor was uncertain. "Everything you can imagine was going through my head. What if it doesn't work out? They're opening your chest. Thinking about that… anything can happen."

The transplant was a success and he was headed home, just nine days after the surgery, but he had a long road ahead of him.

"I'd start walking the dog… go around a little block, just around the house. After that, I'd be tired, have a headache and have to lay down," Sullivan remembered. "So each day I just went a little further… a little further… and made the block bigger."

Walking led to running. He used to feel like that was just something he had to do when he was in the service, but Conor's perspective had changed.

"It's such a simple thing. Anybody – not a lot of people do it – but almost anybody can go outside and go for a jog, go for a run," he said. "But for almost two years, I wasn't able to. So now that I have the ability, it's more enjoyable."

So just 19 months after getting his new heart, Conor will line up in Hopkinton for his very first marathon. Staying true to his service background, he will run for Mass. Fallen Heroes.

"Being able to be a part of the Boston Marathon – out of all the marathons; I'm lucky to live in Boston and be able to be a part of this one."

He's not running for time, but for the experience. His goal is simply to finish.

"I'm going to take in as much as I can from start to finish line. It means a lot to me. I have a lot of people to thank and this will be for them."

Mass Fallen Heroes honors the Massachusetts servicemen and women lost since 9/11, and helps support their families.