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A heart transplant is a medical event, but it’s also a crash course in how you live. Guest  Jimmy Owens brings a perspective you don’t hear every day: a veteran swim coach and wellness-minded leader who suddenly had to stop coaching everyone else and fight for his own life. Jimmy shares how injuries and testing revealed serious heart function issues, how he lived with congestive heart failure for years, and how getting COVID twice became the turning point that landed him in the hospital and on the path to a heart transplant. 

We get honest about what the waiting is really like, including time on ECMO, the fear of not knowing if “tomorrow” shows up, and the mindset shifts that helped Jimmy keep going. He also breaks down organ donor matching and why the transplant list isn’t just about time, it’s about medical urgency and compatibility. If you’ve searched for heart transplant recovery stories, resilience after illness, or motivation to rebuild your health, Jimmy’s clarity and candor will stay with you. 

We also dig into wellness at ground level: nutrition choices during recovery, the weird logic of “sugar-free” hospital food, and why treating your body like a temple doesn’t require perfection. Jimmy shares the practical habits he changed after surgery like cutting soda, avoiding excess alcohol, and choosing consistency over guilt, plus the reminder that it’s never too late to make a small change that adds up to a longer, stronger life. 

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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share  the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day! 
In Health, 

Shelly