‘It’s like a new life.’ WBAP radio legend Hal Jay shares heart transplant journey

Hal Jay said he can’t wait to get back to work.

The WBAP 820-AM Morning News co-host has been off the air since Jan. 10 when he collapsed at home from an irregular heart rhythm. Now, thanks to an organ donor, Jay has a new heart and a new lease on life.

The 69-year-old is recovering at home after his Feb. 4 heart transplant surgery at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He spent more than 30 days in the hospital, most of them in the intensive care unit.

“You know, I get better every day,” Jay to told the Star-Telegram in a phone interview Wednesday. “When I got home last week I was very weak, but I could move a little, and each day got better and better.”

Jay never thought he would need a heart transplant and he never thought seriously about organ donation, though he said many of his family members are donors. Now he wants to tell everyone about the organ donation program.

“Organ donors — they’re very, very special people,” he said. “At the same time I was living, there was a family that was hurting. But also that family knew that somewhere down the line ... they gave the gift of life to somebody. Their son or daughter lives on. It’s a great gift.”

When a doctor determines that someone needs an organ transplant, the person is put on a transplant waiting list.

Nearly 107,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list, according to Donate Life Texas. More than 10,000 of those are Texans. Every nine minutes another name is added to the list, and every day 17 people die waiting for a transplant that could have saved their life.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, there are six medical urgency statuses on the heart transplant list. Statuses one and two are the most urgent. Those who are on advanced treatment or have severe symptoms or complications are usually assigned a higher urgency status.

Jay was initially put on status four in mid-January, but a near-death experience on Jan. 24 bumped him up to two. He was expecting to wait for months, he said, but about 10 days later he got the call from someone at Baylor’s heart transplant program that changed his life.

“She said ‘This is the call,’” Jay recalled, choking up with emotion. “I said, ‘You gotta be kidding.’ She said ‘Nope. We’ve got your heart.’ And I went into surgery at 1 o’clock in the morning.”

Jay was out of surgery by 5 a.m. and has been steadily recovering ever since. He’s made drastic changes to his diet and is going on short walks with the help of his wife Ann.

He credits God and the unknown donor for saving his life.

“I’m going to be thanking God every day,” he said. “About every other minute I thank him. Because it’s so important that people find God if they haven’t. ... I’m not preaching or anything, not being a televangelist. I just urge people to find him and put him in their lives.”

Jay joined WBAP in 1981. Before the transplant he was thinking about retiring, but now he said he’s just waiting for the doctor to clear him to go back.

“It’s like a new life,” he said. “I can’t wait to get back to work. ... We have so much fun and it’s just a great radio station, a great bunch of people that now I can’t wait to get back.”