He got them just in time. And his family is forever grateful to his donor.
[Ads /]
"Take me home, country road,' sang an off-key Robert Fealy.
It's the happiest tune 60-year-old Robert Fealy has ever sung...
"I was in intensive care when I did that," Robert remarked.
Just days earlier Robert received a rare multi-organ transplant at the Cleveland Clinic.
A genetic disease called Alpha One Antitrypson deficiency caused Robert's lungs and liver to fail.
"He received what we call a dual organ transplant. He received a double lung and a liver at the same time from the same donor and this is a very difficult transplant to do because you have to get the organs, again for the same donor," said Dr. Marie Budev of the Cleveland Clinic.
[Ads /]
After a twelve hour operation, Robert woke up with new lungs and a liver, on a very special day.
"It was our 38th wedding anniversary. So you know the best gift that could have ever gotten from anyone was the gift of life from a donor," says Robert's wife Jeanne, with a broad smile.
Robert had spent last Christmas in the hospital.
He wasn't sure he'd live to see another.
But thanks to a priceless gift, he's singing a different tune this year- Christmas Carols with his grandkids.
[Ads /]
"One of the most important things in his life was that he could be a grandfather and now he has that opportunity," continued Jeanne.
"To me, that's what it's all about. We're going over and watching the kids open their presents, I can't wait. I'll be like the biggest kid there," Robert said with a laugh.
Robert also recently underwent heart surgery. He is getting stronger every day.
There are more than one-hundred-thousand people waiting for life-saving organs.
If you'd like to learn more about donation, or become as donor, see the Gift of Life program or the national program.