Heart transplant patient from Bellmore will bike cross-country to honor his donor

A decade ago, Ken Abbott received a new heart.

The former teacher at Grand Avenue Middle School in Bellmore was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease when he was 40 and was given just about a 5% chance to live. That all changed six months later when he got a call during his earth science class that a new heart was waiting for him at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

"That's when you sort of look at it and say, 'oh, you know, this might be something to be worried about,' " Abbott, 61, of Centerport, said of his initial prognosis. "But I never lost hope. I always thought, 'OK, we can do this.' And we did it."

The anonymous heart donor gave him a renewed lease on life, which he has vowed to never take for granted. Now he’s using his heart to the fullest by biking 3,000 miles cross-country, from San Diego to Florida, over 40 days.

Abbott’s journey is sponsored by the Long Island City-based nonprofit LiveOnNY, which matches donors with the federal organ transplant list. He said he is trekking across the country to help raise awareness about organ donations and encourage others to be donors.

"This is the real circle of life story where a transplant recipient has never forgotten and is grateful for the admiration and respect for a donor who gave him this heart," said Leonard Achan, CEO and founder of LiveOnNY.

Abbott flew to Los Angeles this week, trading a blizzard for the Hollywood sun. He was biking along the beach with his cycling partner Pete Trankina, 68, of Patchogue, before the pair leaves Wednesday from San Diego. They will travel 75 miles each day through the Southwest, Texas and Southern states while his wife, Eleanor, meets them at each day’s camping spot in a recreational vehicle.

Trankina said he met Abbott at the Babylon train station when Abbott was doing his first 100-mile ride and joined him while riding with the Suffolk Bicycle Riders Association. Trankina said he had dreamed of riding cross-country when Abbott made plans this year to make the trip.

"I may be crazy. I’ll tell you at the end if I made the right decision," Trankina said. "I was blown away. The fact he’s doing it with a new heart is an inspiration to me. If he can do it, I can do it. That’s definitely a motivating factor for me."

Abbott received a pacemaker after a routine doctor visit led him to a cardiologist in 2010. He lived with it for five years until testing showed that a previously undiagnosed autoimmune condition was damaging his heart and he needed a transplant. He was given a left ventricular assistive device while his doctors placed him on a the transplant list.

When he received the call telling him a new heart was available, he was told he had four hours to get to Manhattan. Abbott said he doesn’t know the identity of his donor, except that he was a 46-year-old New York man who also saved the lives of two others. He said he has written letters to the anonymous donor's family, but has not received a response.

Abbott retired from teaching during the pandemic, and found his passion for cycling, which has included a ride from Manhattan to Montauk.

Since his transplant, he has advocated for organ donations at schools. He will chronicle his journey for LiveOnNY through social media and a website, Pedaling4Life.org. He said he will share his story and join other riders to raise awareness about organ donations.

"I'm still going to live my life in a way that I think honors my donor," Abbott said. "I see it as a responsibility. I was given this gift, and I better do something with it to honor the sacrifice and the forethought of my donor."