FERNDALE, Mich. – The halls of Ferndale High School are filled with memories for Chevy Farris.
The names of his family and close friends can be found around every corner -- on trophies, in team pictures, the Hall of Fame, and the records hanging on the wall.
“We’re big on history here,” explained Farris. “We’re big on tradition.”
Farris still holds wrestling records at the school.
“I’m the team points holder and takedowns, I’m the holder with 432 takedowns,” Farris explained.
He’s now the school’s associate head wrestling coach, trying to help his athletes knock him off the wall.
“I was kind of born into the family. We have a really rich history here at Ferndale. My entire family have always been deep into the sport of wrestling,” laughed Farris.
Farris was a three-time all-state wrestler in high school and won the national championship twice with his college team.
But through the years, he was also wrestling with his health.
“I’ve always kind of had struggles with some of my breathing and stuff like that,” Farris said.
He was also fatigued, in spite of being in such good shape.
“Especially in sports, to have to take breaks during matches. I actually had to take two weeks off from matches because I thought I was just having really bad asthma,” said Farris.
But when he was 23, Farris ended up in the hospital.
“I ran five miles that day, and I was running up Woodward, my regular run,” said Farris. “But I kinda just felt something in my throat.”
Doctors discovered Farris was born with a right coronary artery that took an irregular path to his heart.
“While they were doing that surgery, they found so much more. So it’s like a Pandora’s box,” said Farris.
Genetic testing revealed Farris has a rare genetic condition called lamin a cardiomyopathy.
Nearly all patients with this problem will develop arrhythmias and congestive heart failure.
“It’s mindblowing. So many times, I have been running miles, and been in matches, I’ve really pushed my body,” said Farris.
As an athlete, he said it was a crushing diagnosis until he met Dr. Supriya Shore, a cardiologist at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center.
“I met her, and she was like, ‘Hey, no, life is not over, life’s not over. I’m on your side, and we’re gonna beat it. It’s just another match,’ is what she told me,” said Farris.
“When Chevy came in, I realized he had congestive heart failure,” said Shore. “So we first started off by fixing his medications. Unfortunately, his heart muscle did not recover a whole lot.”
Over the next few years, Farris needed an internal defibrillator and pacemaker, stents, and more. Each step bought time, but the clock was still running.
In March of last year, Farris went into the hospital for a routine test.
“I woke up, and I was in the hospital room, and Dr. Shore was calling me,” said Farris. “And she’s like, ‘We just can’t let you leave.”
Farris needed a new heart. But finding one wouldn’t be easy. He would spend the next two months in the hospital -- waiting.
University of Michigan transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Hawkins explained that previous blood transfusions during his many cardiac procedures had left Farris with high levels of antibodies, making finding a match even harder.
“There aren’t enough hearts to go around, and not all of the hearts that are being donated are suitable for everybody,” said Hawkins. “The real challenge is finding the right heart for the right patient.”
During his months in the hospital, Farris did complex LEGO projects to pass the time and said his fiancé, family, friends, and his wrestlers kept him going.
“Coach Collins walks in, and he has this big ol’ chart and all the kids, they had made me a big ol’ thing, and every kid in the entire program had signed it, and it just made me feel so good, and it was like, ‘Hey, I can do this,’ and that’s just, it was a life-changer,” said Farris.
“Finding the right heart for him took a little bit longer than we would ideally have. Sitting in a hospital is not fun, but eventually we found him a fantastic heart,” said Hawkins.
On May 12, 2025, Farris received a heart. When he woke up after surgery.
“Gratitude, just gratitude, just so much gratitude,” said Farris. “Happy to see my family and see their eyes and make a couple jokes to them and stop crying and stuff like that. It was awesome.”
Farris has embraced his second chance at life.
“I feel free. I feel like I can get back to work now,” said Farris.
He makes a point of sharing the lessons he has learned with his athletes.
“They all think that, ‘Hey, we gotta win matches for Coach Chevy,’ But I really just want them be good guys in life, right, good kids in life,” said Farris. “Just to be able to keep going, keep pushing. One foot in front of another. So I tell them, even on the hard days when we are in here, I try to make sure I talk about life a lot. So they understand that this is not just for sports, this is real life.”
The message is hitting home.
As we walked through the halls of Ferndale High School, the love and respect the students have for Farris was apparent.
His doctors said Farris is a living example of what organ donation can do.
“What we need is donors,” said Hawkins. “We really need everyone who would want a transplant for themselves, think about that and then be a donor.”
“Chevy has done so well,” said Shores. “It makes me so proud and so happy that we could help somebody like that.”
Farris is fighting to give other patients that chance too, sharing his story to encourage others to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.
“I think organ donation is one of the best things we can do, as we’re on our way out the door, right? To be able to bless another family, and I’m so thankful for the family that blessed me,” said Farris.
Farris will celebrate the one-year anniversary of his heart transplant next month. After that, he and his donor family are allowed to make contact if they both choose.
Farris hopes he will someday have the opportunity to thank them for saving his life.
To learn more about organ donation or to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry, click here.