Sharks ‘Donate Life’ night extra special for new GM

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) – John Hunt’s life changed forever in 2017.

I was a pretty healthy person up until about 2017. I found out I had heart issues, went through a 2-year battle to get listed for a transplant and in 2019 may I got a transplant at the University of Washington hospital and have been doing well ever since,” said the new general manager of the Wilmington Sharks.

Hunt has done many things since. He’s climbed the Rocky steps, wrote a book, 3 5K races, and now a general manager of a baseball team.

Hunt is AB+ blood type, which makes it very hard to get the perfect transplant, but easy to receive a transplant: Hunt could receive an A, B or O blood type organ. However, if an AB+ passes away, it can only go to another AB+ blood type.

Hunt was on the bottom of the recipient list, but 2 days later, an AB+ donor’s heart became available. There were no other AB+ people in the list.

That new heart saved his life. It’s shown him a new perspective on life.

“I got bonus time. I mean when I laid down on the table that day there’s a 17% chance you don’t come back.”

“If I didn’t get this transplant, either I wouldn’t be here, or I would be laying in a hospital bed in very bad shape just hanging on until that day came for my turn.”

Thursday night was about the people who didn’t get bonus time or the people who donated organs to give someone else bonus time. While partnering with Cary-based Donate Life North Carolina, the Sharks tried to raise awareness of the need for donors and sign up people to be donors themselves.

“We are here to support anybody who is a recipient of whatever body part it was; anything from eyes, bone marrow, heart, lungs, kidneys, all that… and we actually have a lot of fans coming who are donors,” said Hunt. Many got in the ballpark for free.

“109,000 people are waiting for some sort of organ transplant. A transplant recipient can help up to 9 different people. I want to show support and so do the Wilmington Sharks team to anybody out there why has saved somebody’s life,” said Hunt.

Since Hunt does not know his donor, this is his way of giving back to that individual and his or her family.

“It’s a selfless act. Anybody who makes that decision – it’s just an unselfish gift. If you have ever even thought of becoming a donor, go and add that heart to your driver’s license.”

“It doesn’t have to be someone in your family. It can be a random person. They never have to know who you are. You can do it anonymously or you can be more specific. There’s so many people you can help by being an organ donor.”

One life that was saved by a donor — Sophie Blackmon. She got to throw out the first pitch at the Sharks game.

“It’s like a one in a lifetime opportunity. You just have to throw, and you get a lot of cheers.”

Maybe her pitch on the mound was a bit low and outside, but her pitch for people to sign up to become a donor went right down the middle.

“I really think it’s important because people need to know that sometimes an organ doesn’t work, and a kid needs to get it replaced. It’s a great thing to do. There’s a lot of people out there that need organs.”

The Wilmington Sharks will be auctioning off their Donate Life night jerseys once they are washed and signed. Follow along on their Facebook page to see when the auctions start this weekend.