Contributor

Simon Keith

Chief Operating Officer of the Nevada Donor Network; Founder of The Simon Keith Foundation

Simon Keith holds the distinction of being the first athlete in the world to play a professional sport (soccer) after undergoing a heart transplant. Keith was just 21 when, in July of 1986, he received the heart of a 17 year-old boy. Keith amazingly returned to competitive soccer a year after his transplant playing for UNLV. After his senior season, Keith was named the Most Valuable Player at the Senior Bowl and was drafted first overall into the Major Indoor Soccer League, just three years after his heart transplant. Now one of the longest living organ transplant recipients in the world and most notable professional athletes of his time, Keith recently published his biography – Heart for the Game - detailing this most unique journey. In 2011, he founded The Simon Keith Foundation, an organization dedicated to increasing organ donor awareness and educating transplant recipients. Keith is also the COO of the Nevada Donor Network, the organ procurement organization for the state of Nevada.

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