Bob's Story
Bob underwent open-heart surgery in December 2009.
Bob is happily back to restoring vintage cars in his home garage again.
After receiving two mechanical valves, Bob's heart is on the mend.
Fishing on Mission Lake is a special life pleasure for Bob.
"You learn to enjoy every day," Bob says after surgery and a six-month recovery.
Getting the engine purring again
Bob DeYoung brings old cars back from the dead. Give him a rusted, saggy, no-go hulk and he’ll have it humming and gleaming, good as new.
But by Thanksgiving 2009, Bob himself was running out of gas—plagued by a mysterious lethargy that left him withering away in his chair, too weak to speak above a whisper.
When he reached Harrison Medical Center’s emergency department, Bob looked ready for the scrap heap.
“Jeez, I was scared,” Bob says, “because I didn’t know if I was going to come out of this or not.”