http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Star-Wars-gives-boost-to-Kingwood-man-awaiting-12443111.php
Star Wars gives boost to Kingwood man awaiting heart transplant
Published 8:46 pm, Tuesday, December 19, 2017
The click-clacking, artificial heart follows Lee Williams always.
It is there when he watches Netflix or grabs $1 beers with his friends on Mondays. And it is there when he plays Xbox, walks his dog or waits, as he now does always, for the phone call confirming an organ is ready for him.
Two years after he was diagnosed with a rare form of heart disease, the 22-year-old is used to the noisy, 20-pound backpack that keeps the heart pumping, some 120 beats every minute.
But not all people are so comfortable with the clamor. Last year, at a showing of "Star Wars: Rogue One," fellow moviegoers complained to theater management about the noise.
Some thought there was a problem with the projector. Others didn't realize the back-pack was keeping him alive.
Williams simply left.
"It was just really, really quiet and uncomfortable," said his mom, Cheri Belinowski.
On Tuesday, Williams finally saw Star Wars on a big screen, though this time in a private screening of "The Last Jedi," the blockbuster film of the season, and with the discomfiting theater patrons replaced with surprise appearances by friends and doctors from Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center.
"These are all the people that let me stay alive," he joked.
Williams' oldest friends say little has changed about their friend. They still play video games, crack jokes and grab pizza — normal activities for 20-somethings.
"I couldn't imagine going through something like that," said Noah White, 22, who like Williams went to the former Northeast Christian Academy in Kingwood. "But it's like the same old Lee."
That isn't to say it's been an easy few years, however.
Once an avid skateboarder, basketball player and high school quarterback, Williams is now severely limited in what physical activities he can do.
That, his mother said, has been tough on her son.
"He's anxious to get back to all of that," said Belinowski. "But he's not a complainer."
It took months for doctors to discover her son's failing heart.
"It was devastating," his mother said.
Today, 18 months after he was given an artificial heart, he's still waiting for a transplant.
"We've been very positive; there is no negativity," she said. "We know he's going to get a new heart. And he's going to do well and he's going to live his life. And that's what we're waiting on. We're just waiting on a transplant."
Williams' doctors, meanwhile, said the movie and show of support were an important reminder that a disease, even if debilitating, should not rob a person of the daily joys and normalcy of life.
"Often, when you're a patient ... you can get focused on the limitations," said Dr. Jeffrey Morgan, of St. Luke's. "We wanted to be able to give him some hope."
Williams, who was unaware there would be media at the event, used his brief platform Tuesday to raise awareness for the cause now constantly on his mind: Organ donations.
"It's really grim, and I think people kind of want to push that away and not think about death," he said. "But I think if there's a way to somewhat normalize it and get the message out, then I think it would increase the amount of organ donations."
Soon after, he climbed upward five rows to his seat, center to the screen, with his 15 or so friends and family.
The lights dimmed. His heart clanked. This time, no one minded the noise.
