Woman with transplanted heart enjoyed long life

BELLEVUE — A local woman's large family is thinking about her during the holiday season after she passed away in mid-December and more than three decades after receiving a heart transplant. Mary Perry, 78, a Bellevue resident, died on Dec. 13. Her obituary was published in the Register on Dec. 20. She's being remembered for her active and busy life, going to casinos and rock concerts, cooking for her relatives and working until only a few months before her death. The obituary for the Huron High School alum noted, "She was especially proud to be a heart transplant recipient, having been blessed with 31 years as of May 23, 2025, a milestone that reflected her strength, resilience, and gratitude for life." Her daughter, Teresa Brooks, also a heart transplant recipient, told the Register that she remains extremely upset about her mother's death. But Brooks said she also is thanking God that her mother lived for so long after her heart transplant. Beating the odds A heart condition, cardiomyopathy, runs in Perry's family, forcing both Perry and her daughter to get heart transplants. Perry's was at the Cleveland Clinic on May 23, 1994. The donor was a 16-year-old boy who had been shot. Perry had been the subject of two articles in the Register, which noted her zest for life and that she had enjoyed a long life after her transplant. She had lived an unusually long life after her transplant. "About half of all people who receive a heart transplant live more than 10 years after the procedure," according to a Cleveland Clinic article. "Advances in medicine and transplant care mean more and more people live 20 to 30 years or more after their transplant." Keeping busy Perry made the most of her opportunity for an extended life. "I'm still in great shape right now," she said in a 2024 interview. "God gave me a second chance at life, and I'm living it to the fullest." Perry liked to cook and bake; enjoyed going to rock concerts, featuring her favorite bands, such as the Doobie Brothers, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Santana; and loved being with her five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She also spent a lot of time working in her garden with her partner, Pete Kowpak, and kept busy cleaning the vegetables and canning and freezing them. She worked for many years, most recently for Brooks' cleaning business, retiring last May. Brooks said her mother also showed off her green thumb by tending a large number of indoor plants. "She still has a plant from her sister's passing, from the funeral, it's over 30 years old," Brooks said. Perry's family has a big family reunion on the last Sunday of each September, attracting around 75 people. As it's a big gathering, it requires planning, and the family elects a reunion president and vice president to handle the work. Perry and her sister were the officers for the last two years, and they had often served in the posts over the years, Brooks said. Operations span decades The Cleveland Clinic performed its first heart transplant in 1968 and began a program of regular heart transplants in 1984. "Cleveland Clinic surgeons have performed more than 2,000 heart transplants in addition to multi-organ transplants, such as heart/liver, heart/lung and heart/kidney transplants," the clinic's website states. "Cleveland Clinic was the third center in the United States to perform more than 2,000 heart transplants." Brooks received her own heart transplant in December 2023. She was still trying to recover when the Register profiled her mother in a May 2024 article. Brooks recently said that while her recovery continues, her heart still has a tendency to beat too fast, but she is doing much better. "I'm doing pretty good," she said.