{"id":147245,"date":"2026-03-24T19:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147245\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:26:10","slug":"heart-transplant-brings-kentucky-man-and-pennsylvania-donors-family-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147245\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart transplant brings Kentucky man and Pennsylvania donor\u2019s family together"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (InvestigateTV<\/a>) \u2014 Duewy Scobee<\/a> had heart issues for a long time. Doctors exhausted all resources to keep him going. In 2024, he was in the hospital with heart failure. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really bad. I was near the end,\u201d Scobee said. <\/p>\n

At 58, Scobee needed a heart transplant. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a choice of just doing palliative care until I passed away or do the transplant,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

More than 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant in the United States on any given day, according to organdonor.gov. More than 4,000 people are waiting for a new heart. <\/p>\n

A donor\u2019s gift <\/p>\n

Roc Dabney, 28, died in a car crash in Pennsylvania in March 2024. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was quite the character. He was the life of the family,\u201d Rodney Briggs, Roc\u2019s uncle, said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough. Tough seeing him lying there in the road,\u201d Briggs said. <\/p>\n

Dabney\u2019s sudden death was devastating for his family. But because he was the type to help others, Dabney was an organ donor. <\/p>\n

Once Dabney died, there was only a four-hour window to get his heart from Pennsylvania to Louisville for Scobee. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was really nervous, I was really scared because this could be the last time that you\u2019re around. Because once you go into surgery, if something goes wrong you just not going to wake up,\u201d Scobee said. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s still emotional for Scobee to think about the transplant. <\/p>\n

\u201cI received my heart from a 28-year-old kid. I call him a kid because I have a son that\u2019s 27, a daughter who\u2019s 25,\u201d Scobee said. \u201cAnd it bothers me that I\u2019m almost 60. He didn\u2019t even get to grow up really.\u201d <\/p>\n

Recovery and reunion <\/p>\n

The transplant and recovery were successful. Eleven months later, Scobee ran his first 5K. <\/p>\n

A picture of Scobee with information that he was a new heart recipient circulated on the internet. Dabney\u2019s family knew his heart went to a Kentucky man. They connected the dots and reached out. <\/p>\n

The families decided to meet each other in Pennsylvania. Scobee brought along a stethoscope. It was emotional for everyone, including Dabney\u2019s mother. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe got to listen to her son\u2019s heartbeat in my chest,\u201d Scobee said. <\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the first time I\u2019d seen my sister smile since the accident,\u201d Briggs said. <\/p>\n

Scobee said he had a line of people who wanted to listen to the heartbeat. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it helped with the healing process. It came full circle,\u201d Briggs said. <\/p>\n

The families exchanged stories and realized that Dabney and Scobee were a lot alike. They both loved Halloween. The two would have probably been friends. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all would agree that I would say Roc had a hand in picking Duewy to receive his heart,\u201d Briggs said. <\/p>\n

With this second chance, Scobee said life just feels a whole lot nicer and he feels so much better. <\/p>\n

Organ donation gave Roc\u2019s family a powerful and positive outcome from their tragic situation, allowing them to focus on the good that came from their loss. <\/p>\n

\u201cI look at everybody a whole lot different than I used to. I don\u2019t get mad. It\u2019s just calmer because I\u2019ve got a second chance. Everything else is daisies,\u201d Scobee said. <\/p>\n

A 2025 survey by the National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Practice found that while 93% of Americans supported organ donation, only 53% were signed up and another 5% were unsure of their status. <\/p>\n

To sign up to be an organ donor, visit the National Donate Life Registry<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Every donor can save up to eight lives and enhance over 75 more, according to organdonor.gov<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Read more here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOUISVILLE, Ky. (InvestigateTV) \u2014 Duewy Scobee had heart issues for a long time. Doctors exhausted all resources to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7327,67120,67121,67118,67119,67117,1021,8769,28,30,29,67122],"class_list":["post-147245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-impact","tag-inform","tag-inspire","tag-investigate-tv","tag-investigate-tv-plus","tag-investigatetv","tag-investigation","tag-investigators","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-solutions-based-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}