Centerville Male Who Lived With Donor Heart for 35 Yrs Dies at 64 | News, Sporting activities, Careers

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In this 2019 file photograph, Joe Rosen of Centerville celebrates the 34th anniversary of obtaining a coronary heart transplant with a fudge cake entire with a No. 34 candle at T.J.’s Sports activities Yard in Wheeling. Rosen died on Feb. 28 at the age of 64.

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Centerville resident Joe Rosen, who lived with a donor heart for far more than 35 years, died Feb. 28. He was 64 decades outdated.

Rosen graduated from Union Local High School in 1974. He was born in Glen Dale on July 17, 1956, a son of the late Mike Rosen and Grace Garrison Rosen.

Rosen acquired his donor coronary heart through a transplant operation on Oct. 25, 1985. He was 29 years old at the time.

Every yr on the anniversary of receiving the donated coronary heart, he celebrated the situation. It was the beginning of his new existence with a new coronary heart. All through an job interview with The Moments Leader in 2019, Rosen mentioned the heart permitted him to dwell a joyful, healthful life. He explained acquiring the heart was a next probability to live all over again.

He mentioned then that he usually experimented with to be a good steward of the heart he received by keeping energetic and residing a healthy lifestyle.

None of his medical practitioners could explain to him just how extended it would past.

“I woke up and I was far better. I was not ill, I was much better — I understood I was better,” Rosen claimed back in 2019 of the transplant experience. “The thing that was unusual, I was placing my hand to my chest and it was not my heartbeat … It was so odd, it was not my coronary heart any more — it was someone else’s coronary heart. I was normally informed the coronary heart would never ever be my coronary heart, that it would generally belong to the donor. I was informed by the transplant coordinator that, ‘You are the caretaker of this coronary heart.’”

Rosen held a variety of employment above the several years. He was a licensed barber and experienced a shop in Centerville. He also taught signal language at Belmont University. Afterwards, he became an early intervention professional in Cambridge for the Guernsey County Board of Developmental Disabilities. He worked there for 16 several years in advance of retiring.

The Guernsey County Board of Developmental Disabilities posted on its social media that officials there would constantly bear in mind Rosen. They described him as a “very exclusive particular person and co-worker.” He was regarded for his “infectious smile and contagious laugh” and cherished to sing. He exuded joy and positivity.

Rosen was also the creator of a children’s book, “Smally and the Major Shiny Yellow Bulldozer.”

Rosen is survived by a sister, Ilene (Charley Mac) Dillon of Jerusalem, Ohio a sister-in-law, Helen (Paul) Parnell of St. Clairsville, along with various nieces and nephews, cousins and close friends.

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