The heart of a champion
Stansbury captures cycling gold at World Transplant Games
Look up the bio for Dr. Neal Stansbury on the Lehigh Valley Health Network website and you’ll learn a variety of things about him such as he graduated from the University of California, and that he has received nearly all of his medical training at Hahnemann Medical College and Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia.
It will also tell you that he’s the sports physician for Allentown Central Catholic High School and the medical director of Valley Preferred Cycling Center and a board member of the Gift of Life.
Somewhere in the bio it should say that Stansbury is an inspiration to thousands who know his amazing comeback story that continues to add chapters.
Five years ago, Stansbury was near death, suffering from ventricular arrhythmia, when he was given the gift of life via a heart transplant.
The orthopedic surgeon, who lives in North Whitehall, wasn’t content to just live with his new heart. A highly competitive and successful cyclist who turned down a pro contract to attend med school, Stansbury wanted to prove that through organ donation and a transplant, patients can thrive.
In 2020, Stansbury was all set to get back to his bike and compete for championships, but the pandemic intervened.
Last summer at the Transplant Games of America in San Diego, he won the gold in the 20-kilometer time trial.
He was just getting started.
Last month he competed in the World Transplant Games in Perth, Australia, and won a gold medal and a silver. The gold came in the 30K cycling road race and the silver was in the 10K cycling time trial
where he lost by a mere second to a former professional cyclist from Great Britain.
Make no mistake, Stansbury may have finished second in that event, but he’s hardly a loser in the game of life.
“My story in a nutshell is that when I was in college I was a competitive cyclist and continued to ride as an amateur while I attended med school,” he said. “I did very well and won some national championships and even set a world record for an amateur in my age group in Manchester, England.
“But then I developed a very rare cardiomyopathy that basically destroyed my heart over the course of several years. I went from winning bike races right and left to not even being able to climb a flight of stairs. I went downhill and it was discouraging to say the least.”
Stansbury was put on the transplant list and waited for three years as his condition worsened. He was told he had about two weeks to live when he went into an intensive care unit.
“Luckily, they were able to find a heart for me in time,” he said. “This was in July of 2018. But by then, I had been so weakened that I couldn’t do anything.”
But he didn’t give up. He gradually resumed walking and exercising and doing more of the things he used to do to be a nationally recognized cyclist.
In 2022, he returned to racing.
He finished fifth in his age group in his first race, competing against nontransplant riders.
And then came San Diego and then came Perth and some unbelievable results. He just missed winning the first event and then won the 30K road race by topping an Italian who had not been beaten in the event since 2015.
“I was pretty excited about that, to be honest,” Stansbury said. “It had been a long time since I had won a bike race and for me, that win meant I was back and I had overcome what I had been dealing with for so long. It was a very emotional time.”
Stansbury said that there’s all kinds of literature out there that says if you have a heart transplant, you lose about 30% of normal function.
“So, the first thought was that ‘Yes, I’m alive but I am not going to be able to do anything’ but I wanted to prove that heart transplant patients can be just like anybody else,” he said. “If you work hard enough and you’re diligent enough you can get back and be competitive and do all the things you want to do in life. That was my driving goal.”
Stansbury remembers a specific conversation he had with a doctor before he received his heart transplant.
“I asked what level of function I would have and he said I would be to ride a bike again but ‘I can guarantee that you’ll never be able to race again’ and I said ‘Challenge accepted,’” Stansbury recalled. “He said ‘Excuse me?’ And I said ‘I am about to prove you wrong.’”
Stansbury said there’s an obvious deficit compared to a person with a normal, healthy heart, but he added that he’s having a blast being back in competitive mode.
“I’m out with friends who I haven’t seen in 10 or 15 years and I go out on the weekends in these different areas and I am just having so much fun doing it,” he said. “Obviously, going to the World Transplant Games was incredible because you’re there with 1,500 athletes from 50 different countries and everyone has been to hell and back. Everyone has almost died, but they’re alive and they’re thrilled to death to still be here and able to do the things they want to do. It’s a very positive and uplifting environment.”
Having gone through what he went through changed his outlook on life.
“Five years ago at about this time I had gone through multi-organ failure and I basically said goodbye to my wife and was getting my personal affairs in order and basically accepted the fact that I was going to die,” Stansbury said. “So when I made it through, I realized how important each and every day is. I wake up every morning just thrilled I am still here and able to do what I do. I do look at life through a different lens. It does change you.”
What will never change is Stansbury’s firm belief in organ donation saving lives.
“Not only am I back in doing my job and riding my bike, but I am very involved with the Gift of Life and trying to make vast awareness of the importance of organ donation,” he said. “I was basically within two weeks of dying and if that particular family hadn’t decided to say yes to organ donation I wouldn’t be here right now. I didn’t have a chance go wait around for another heart, so even though I don’t know them I’m indebted to that family for what they did.”
Stansbury understands the emotions involved.
“Only about 7% of the people who receive transplants get to meet the donor’s family,” he said. “And you understand they’re in a very different place. As a recipient, you are thrilled you’re still alive and thankful for every day. But on the other side, they wake up every morning remembering that they lost someone. Many families are happy with the fact that they have helped someone, but they don’t want to meet the recipients because they don’t want some old scars reopened.”
What’s next for Stansbury?
“I’m 61 right now and because I did so well at the Transplant Games I am going to continue doing them,” he said. “But I also want to do something in normal cycling and go for a state or national championship against regular cyclists to show it can be done. That’s my goal. I don’t know if I’ll ever accomplish that because it’s going to be very difficult, but that’s the next goal.”
As he has proven over his amazing five-year journey, Stansbury usually accomplishes the goals he sets.
“I don’t always tell my story to people, but if they ask, I share it with them,” he said. “I want to let them know what obstacles I’ve overcome. Hopefully it can motivate them to do the same thing.”