3 brothers each get new hearts at Hershey hospital

HARRISBURG — Three Harrisburg-area brothers celebrated a second chance at life last Sunday after each successfully underwent a heart transplant at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

Brian, Steve, and Greg Allen gathered with family and friends to show their appreciation to their care team, including doctors, surgeons, and nurses at the Englewood in Hershey.

After losing six family members to congestive heart failure, the brothers had thought it was just a matter of time until it claimed their lives.

All three were diagnosed with the same ailment within a few years of each other.

Their initial treatments included pacemakers, implanted defibrillators, and medication. However, they each decided to pursue a more permanent solution: a heart transplant.

Brian became the first of the brothers to get a new heart in 2009.

The 56-year-old said he began experiencing severe congestive heart failure symptoms a year and a half before undergoing the transplant.

Thirteen years later, Brian said the transplanted heart is still “fantastic” and pumping strong.

Six years later, Steve, 64, became the second brother to receive a heart transplant. He was 40 when he was first diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 1998.

Steve said he was placed on the transplant list after his implanted defibrillator began to fire more often, shocking his heart back into beating properly.

“My heart couldn’t beat on its own. Before the transplant I was one hundred percent relying on the defibrillator pacemaker for four or five years,” said Steve.

In March, Greg went into surgery for a new heart after he was placed on the transplant list.