HEART TRANSPLANT NEEDED: BENEFIT FOR LA MESA DEPUTY FIRE MARSHAL

Bolt Brewery to hold fundraiser Sun. 2/8 at 1:00 p.m.

By Kristin Kjaero

February 7, 2014 (La Mesa) – 33-year old Heartland Deputy Fire Marshal Adam Beardsley needs a heart transplant, and his colleagues at Heartland are holding a fundraiser February 8 to help with the unexpected expenses. Proceeds from an opportunity drawing with prizes and t-shirts sales will go to help the family, and Bolt Brewery has agreed to donate back 50%. Donations can be made on-line here.

Since January 6 Beardsley has been living at UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital. His wife, Megan Beardsley, commutes from her job at SDSU to visit him on weekends, taking on double expenses to rent an apartment close to the hospital. Beardley’s wife, sister, and parents all drive to Los Angeles on different days, so that one of them is with him at all times while waiting for a life-saving call when a donor heart may be found.

Beardsley, not used to being on the receiving end, volunteers with the Burn Institutes and Muscular Dystrophy Association, in addition to serving the community in his job.

Beardsley has always known that he was born with a congenital heart condition, but in January it was determined that pulmonary embolisms have so weakened his heart that he needs a transplant.

A single organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people. Currently over 110,000 people in the U.S. are on the waiting list for an organ transplant. Nearly 1,600 people are on the waiting list for a organ transplant in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

For information about organ donation, click here.

Bolt Brewery is located at 8179 Center Street in La Mesa.