Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― He had everything going for him - a successful family business, a new wife and child. But one North Texas man almost lost everything when a problem with his heart nearly killed him. CBS 11 News was there for his story of survival. 

Mitchell Pitcock, 22, of Paris, Texas says he has a lot to be thankful for. He's a newlywed, has a young son and now a new lease on life.  "If God has a plan, then He sure did have everything planned out," he said. "A year from now, I wouldn't have been here."

Earlier this year, Mitchell was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy - a condition that causes the heart to become inflamed.

"The right side of Mitchell's heart is good, but the left side is functioning about 8-percent at this time," explained Mitchell's mother, Joanna.

As time passed, the medicine he was taking wasn't making him better. By early July, his wife insisted Mitchell go to the hospital.

"He said it's your call whether we go to the hospital tonight or tomorrow, and of course I like to have a medical team right there by my side, so I said let's go tonight," Amber Pitcock explained.

But, shortly after they arrived at the hospital in Paris, Mitchell's heart stopped.

"It was like they just flipped the light switch off," he said. "I don't know how you'd really explain it."

"His blood pressure started dropping, his pulse bottomed out," Amber said. "I was actually holding him when it happened."

Mitchell died in his wife's arms not once, but twice.

"They revived me once, and then lost me again 30 minutes later," he said. "The second time, they almost didn't get me back."

Mitchell was later transferred to Medical City Dallas Hospital where he was placed on the list for a new heart. Six days after arriving at Medical City, the Pitcock family got the news they were praying to hear.

"Dr. Hunt came in and said 'Have you heard the news?' and I said, 'What news?' and he said 'We have a heart!'," his mother said.

Mitchell was wheeled into surgery later that night. For five hours, doctors worked to remove his old heart and replace it with a new one.  A CBS 11 camera was there when his new heart began to beat.  Our video shows that three minutes after the first beat, the new heart began to pick up its pace. Then, four minutes later, it was beating at full force.

Doctors say the surgery was a success, and Mitchell was up and walking around the very next day.  "I never thought they could fix me, but they did," he said. "I'm glad to see my little boy grow up."

Mitchell was released from the hospital three weeks after the transplant and is now back on his family's ranch in Paris.

"It's kind of different having someone else's organs running your body," Mitchell said.

He says when he's laying in bed, he thinks a lot about what could've happened to him and his family had things turned out differently.  "I get a second chance, I mean, I could've died," he said. "My little boy would've had to grow up with someone else."

The Pitcocks say they owe Mitchell's life to someone they'll never meet - the donor whose heart he says now beats for his son.

"When something like this happens to your family, it makes you think twice," his wife Amber said. "I want everybody to know that you can save a life."

If you'd like to become an organ donor, you can sign up online at the Donate Life Texas website. You can also check out the Southwest Transplant Alliance.

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