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Heart Patient Gets Gift Of Health

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Jul 18, 2008 11:07 am US/Mountain

Heart Patient Gets Gift Of Health

Young Heart Patient Back On The Practice Field With Team

Reporting
Suzanne McCarroll

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) -- In the blistering heat of summer, the Gateway High School football team is hard at practice. Among the players, Jovaughn Jones can't think of any place he'd rather be than working out with his teammates.

"I like it. It's a way to get me in shape," Jones said.

There might be less strenuous ways to get back in shape after a heart transplant, but playing football is a dream come true for Jones.

"It's a miracle. This time last year we didn't think we'd have him around," said Sharon Jones, Jovaughn Jones' mother.

Last summer, while Jovaughn Jones was working out, he collapsed. He was rushed to the critical care unit at Children's Hospital and within days underwent a heart transplant.

"It's hard. I'm glad I came through it, I'm alive," Jones told CBS4.

Now, with a new heart, it's critical that Jones keep up his daily exercise - even when he's away from the football field. A family friend wants to pay it forward and buy him a treadmill for working out at home.

"I want to see him have every possible chance in life and get him back in shape and this is one way to do it," said Annitta Bartlett-Jackson.

Bartlett-Jackson asked CBS4 for $1,000 dollars to pay for the treadmill. And even though it remains to be seen if the Gateway High School football team will have a winning season this fall, the team already has a success story among them. A young man who's playing with all of his new heart.

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