Eden Ann Butler was in Scottsdale, Arizona, far from her Idaho home, as she spoke about winning a University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) Pillars of Strength scholarship. She was supporting her husband, Chief Master Sergeant John Butler (U.S. Air Force, Ret.) as he struggled to recover from a heart transplant and a massive stroke that fallowed the transplant this past January.
A veteran of multiple combat tours in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Butler was in Baghdad when he suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed. He was fortunate to have medical staff among his troops who rushed him to a medic’s tent, where electrical shocks were administered to restart his heart.
John was medevaced to Germany where a second cardiac arrest occurred and left him unable to return to his unit. He was sent to Walter Reed Medical Center in the U.S. and he was diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy—a terminal heart condition with no known cure. With 27 years of active-duty service, he took retirement and accepted a civilian job in anti-terrorism operations at the Mountain Home Air Force base in Idaho.
That’s where he met Eden Ann, who was born and raised in Idaho and where her permanent residence still remains.
The couple married in 2014, and for several years John exhibited few symptoms of his condition. “You couldn’t tell he was sick or anything,” she said. “But then he began going through the stages of heart failure.”
In 2018 after a period of hospitalization and learning that there was nothing more that could be done to prolong or preserve his badly damaged heart, Eden Ann spent countless days and nights researching and studying his condition as she was not able to accept the fact that nothing could be done for him.
“Aside from his heart condition, he was far healthier than most people half his age. He was an athlete and devoted his life to physical fitness and healthy living so I thought to myself, ‘it’s not like his body is full of cancer or that he had a slew of other health conditions, so couldn’t they just transplant him?’” That question would be the focus of her research for several days until they saw his cardiologist and she was able to ask him that very question. After going over the requirements and realizing he checked every box to be a candidate for a transplant, the doctor gave him an order to be evaluated that same day.
They explored two different heart transplant programs, however his health took a sudden turn for the worse in July 2022, and he began to decline at such a rapid pace, Eden Ann knew that traveling was no longer possible. An appointment with his cardiologist in November 2022 confirmed that he was well into the final stage of heart failure and though his doctor provided the urgent referral needed to be evaluated at the Mayo Clinic, he advised John and Eden Ann that there may not be enough time for the process to take place, giving John just weeks to live.
They wasted no time in getting him approved and accepted at the Mayo Clinic.
With his initial consultation completed on December 30, 2022, the doctor approved him and welcomed him into the program that very day. Five days later he was admitted to the hospital at Mayo Clinic and two weeks after that, on January 20, 2023, he received a transplant.
The procedure, however, came with serious complications. His new heart did not beat for several days, and he had to remain on life support for nearly a week. But once off live support, doctors discovered that he was not responding properly. After undergoing a full body MRI, they discovered that John had suffered a massive stroke and several subsequent smaller strokes while on life support and that he was not able to move the right side of his body, speak or even open his eyes for more than a couple seconds at a time initially.
What Eden Ann thought would be a three-month recovery from the heart transplant turned into something much longer and much more complex.
“It was devastating,” Eden Ann said. “All he wanted to do was run on the beach again and after coming that close to death and receiving the life-saving transplant, we never dreamed he’d come out not being able to walk or care for himself.”
Eden Ann is committed to being her husband’s full-time caregiver for the rest of his life, and her strong advocacy for John continues to produce pleasant surprises.
Just as she did when they were told that nothing more could be done for John, and Eden Ann asked about getting a transplant, she did the same thing when she learned about his strokes.
They are now exploring some promising new treatment options that have given them enough hope to not give up. Eden Ann describes John’s resilience and determination as unlike any others. He can speak clearly now and has regained full use of his right arm in just a couple of months. They are hoping the treatment option that they discovered for stroke patients will help enable him to use his leg again. They know, however, that his ability to speak and write are huge improvements and are grateful for those accomplishments.
“We cherish the gift that each day is,” she said, “we have no bad days, because we were so close to never having another one. So we know better than to take even a single second for granted.”
Even with such a positive attitude and optimistic spirt, Eden Ann recalls being overwhelmed with hope and gratitude when she received the call from UMGC, informing her that she had received a Pillars of Strength scholarship and that the scholarship would cover tuition and fees for a full degree program.
“It’s an incredible opportunity that’s going to open doors for me that I would never have had,” she said.
While she has already completed several college courses, she still has a ways to go to complete her undergraduate degree. Eden Ann hopes to eventually earn a master’s degree in psychology and go on to law school to become a lawyer, specializing in parental alienation.
This is a goal with deep meaning for Eden Ann as she has personally been affected by the family court system and knows firsthand the detriment that it can cause. In particular, she would like to honor the memory of her daughter, Adalynn, and aims to devote her life to preventing this kind of abuse, cruelty and suffrage in other children and families.
“I want to help people work through their trauma and restore their desire to keep going because it will get better no matter how bad it is,” she said. “I want to be a role model to others who are struggling, to show them that I am living proof that no matter what you are facing, you can get through it. You will be so thankful you did because you see exactly what’s in store for your future! It’s the most pleasant feeling, knowing that some of the best days of your life haven’t even happened yet.”