Nick Lege has a second chance.
After 72 days in the ICU, a heart transplant, and a liver transplant, Nick, a deputy with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, left the hospital where his life was saved. He was officially discharged Dec. 15 – it was 10 days before Christmas and exactly 100 days after he arrived at Duke University Hospital by air ambulance.
Arielle Lege, Nick’s wife, said leaving the hospital was exhilarating and terrifying. On one hand, the hospital had felt like a prison – one that Nick worried he would never leave. For months, Nick and Arielle barely left the hospital room. They were away from family, friends and their 10-year-old son Garin, who stayed with family back home in St. Charles Parish.
On the other hand, their new freedom came with a lot of responsibility.
“Everything that the medical staff had managed was suddenly on us to figure out, and there were no practice runs,” Arielle said. “Our days are now shaped by medication schedules, lab results and constant adjustments. Nick still struggles with daily pain and is working to rebuild the muscle and endurance he lost during his long hospital stay.”
Nick is just two months from his transplant surgery – a surgery so rare that Duke Hospital, which performs hundreds of single transplant surgeries each year, performed less than four combined heart and liver transplants last year.
Because Nick’s case was so complex and involved both a heart and liver transplant, his doctors want him to remain nearby so they can closely watch for signs of rejection
“While we are ready to come back home to St. Charles Parish, his doctors say it could be anywhere from six months to one year before they would be comfortable with transferring his care to his doctors in Louisiana,” Arielle said.
The one-year mark after a transplant is a critical milestone for rejection and immune system recovery, Arielle said.
“Once we reach the one-year mark, I will feel more confident,” Arielle said. “I am hopeful but cautious. After everything we have been through, it feels natural to hold both hope and caution at the same time, not fully knowing what the road ahead will bring.”
Arielle said that caution is especially present with things like the flu circulating. Nick is immunocompromised to keep his immune system from recognizing the donor organ as foreign tissue and attacking it, which would typically lead to rejection of the donated organ.
“We are living much like we did during COVID, only going out when necessary and wearing masks around others,” Arielle said.
Nick’s health issues began in 2016, a year after Garin was born. It took years for doctors to get a genetic test, which showed that Nick had a genetic condition linked to heart failure. When Nick was first admitted to the hospital last August, Arielle said she never could have imagined they would end up at a hospital in another state waiting for both a heart and liver transplant.
Arielle had hoped that Nick’s transfer to Duke hospital would be the starting line of his recovery and improvement. But he experienced several setbacks soon after his arrival. He underwent tracheotomy surgery, to help heal his lungs and body enough for a dual transplant. Before that surgery, Nick had undergone several intubations because his oxygen levels declined rapidly.
Then, came the call on Nov. 8 at 10:12 p.m. The hospital told the family it had a heart and liver for Nick. His surgery would take over 15 hours.
“I feel like both of us were experiencing several different emotions,” Arielle said of receiving the news about the donated organs. “Fear, hope, gratitude, and happiness all collided in that moment, and we knew everything was about to change.”
Arielle said she is most thankful for the new life Nick has been given.
“While it came at a great cost, he is here,” she said. “I often think about the donor’s family who were grieving during that same time. We do not take this lightly, and we are committed to honoring it by staying healthy, strong and living life fully.”
Arielle said she and Nick are thankful for her mom, who has been caring for Garin, and to friends who traveled more than 800 miles to support the family. Arielle’s sister and niece, who both live in North Carolina, have been constant sources of strength, Arielle said.
Before Nick was discharged, several nurses came together to make sure Nick had warm winter clothes to leave the hospital in.
“It was very touching,” Arielle said. “The doctors, nurses and staff treated us like family.”
Arielle said Garin arrived last weekend in North Carolina, where he will stay for good.
“Being apart from him this long has been physically painful for me as a mother,” she said. “Knowing we will be together again, without having to do another goodbye, is what I am most looking forward to.”
She is also looking forward to the day the family returns to St. Charles Parish. The St. Charles Parish Sherrif’s Office and the community have been incredibly supportive, Arielle said.
Arielle said she knows there will still be surprises. One happened on Christmas Eve while their son was visiting.
“We were told Nick needed to go to the emergency room because his magnesium levels were low and he needed to get an infusion,” Arielle said. “The three of us spent eight hours in the ER and were discharged at 6 a.m. Our son was worried Santa might skip our house because we weren’t sleeping at the time.”
But Santa showed up.
The journey has taught Arielle that everything becomes a new normal.
“You just have to keep adapting and moving forward,” she said.
