Buda man receives heart transplant from teen who died from fentanyl poisoning

BUDA, Texas - A Buda man and a North Texas mother say they now consider each other family, after he became the recipient of her young son’s heart. 

The teen died from fentanyl poisoning earlier this year. Now, that very grateful recipient has dedicated himself to the fight to end the opioid crisis.

Chance Stovall was a typical 17-year-old in Wylie, northeast of Dallas.

"Outgoing. He loved playing sports. He would friend anyone," said Chance’s mother Kelly Stovall. "Great person."

But in February, Chance met someone through work who offered him a pill.

"What he thought was a Percocet, but instead it was laced with fentanyl, and it cost him his life," said Kelly Stovall. "My whole world got turned upside down."

At that very moment, Jay de la Garza of Buda was in the hospital, where he’d been waiting more than a month for a heart transplant, following a heart attack.

"It was a trying time," said de la Garza.

But on Feb. 3, he learned doctors had finally found a match: Chance Stovall’s heart.

"And Feb. 4, that's when the transplant occurred," said de la Garza.

It was a success, but de la Garza wanted to know who the person was who gave him a second "Chance" at life.

So de la Garza and his wife wrote a letter that was passed on to Kelly Stovall and her husband, expressing their gratitude.

"It was just amazing and thankful because you never know if you are going to get those letters," said Kelly Stovall.

"When we received their letters, it was very emotional," said de la Garza. "It hit me pretty hard because he was so young. He had a full life ahead of him."

After writing back and forth, the two families decided they wanted to meet, so they set a date to have dinner.

"We were all nervous," said Kelly Stovall.

"We didn't know what to expect," said de la Garza.

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"But as soon as we sat down after that initial hug at the table," said Kelly Stovall.

"We just started talking, like we had known each other for years," said de la Garza.

For Jay, that connection also led to a commitment.

"Bringing awareness to fentanyl, I feel like I need to take on this," said de la Garza. "Because I don’t want to see other families go through what the Stovalls went through."

So he connected with the nonprofit A Change for Cam, founded by Becky White, whose son Cam, 19, also died from fentanyl poisoning. 

Jay and his wife drove to South Austin last weekend, where a new billboard was unveiled, showing the faces of those who’ve been killed.

"They had beautiful shirts with Chance's heartbeat printed on them, and I just started bawling as I'm walking towards him and hugged him and hugged him. I felt Chance's hugs too," said White.

And de la Garza says this is just the beginning.

"This is a fight that we plan to continue," said de la Garza.

"Chance had to lose his life so that Jay could have life. And for him to be there, supporting it, the cause that killed his heart donor, it was a complete selfless act," said White.

De la Garza says he gets emotional when he feels Chance’s heart beating.

"I really feel that it's Chance's heart that's giving me those emotions," said de la Garza.

"I’m just so thankful. I just love him so much," said Kelly Stovall.

Since all this happened, de la Garza has now signed up to be an organ donor himself, and urges others to as well.