21-year-old attends first Mariners game since life-saving heart transplant

SEATTLE - 162 games gives us seven months of Mariners baseball, most of us tune in after work, maybe during work. Imagine if those daily games were the only highlight of your day.

Caleb Hopper counted on the Mariners to transport him away from his hospital room where his life was on the line at just 21 years old.

"It's awesome. I'm a lucky person I guess, I’m a lucky person," said Caleb.

Not just because Caleb Hopper is at a high-stakes Mariners game in the final week of the season, but because he’s even here at all. Last summer, just before his 20th birthday, he noticed he was having heart problems.

"I was just living my life normal, worked out every day after class, then all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe, I was having trouble breathing, so I went to urgent care, and that was the beginning of the journey."

A journey that led him to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Dr. Cristy Smith, the surgical director of heart transplant and mechanical circulatory support at Providence diagnosed Caleb with advanced non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. It's a disease that can be genetic, or due to a viral infection or exposure to toxins.

"As far as he’s concerned, he’s getting ready to start his life on a normal journey and then suddenly he’s hit by heart failure that is so profound he is stuck in the ICU, stuck in a bed, can’t get out of ICU and is told that he won’t live without a heart transplant," said Dr. Smith.

For 25 days in the intensive care unit, Caleb was on mechanical heart support, waiting for a donor. During the most uncertain moments of his life, Caleb says baseball always showed up.

"I kind of sat there all day until the Mariners came on, and then I watched them, that’s what I looked forward to do when I was in there."

"The Mariners gave him a reason to get up the next day, turn on the TV, check the scores, it gives you something outside of another person poking me for labs, doctor who’s going to talk to me and just be normal," said Dr. Smith.

The Mariners are also the reason why he knows the four-and-a-half hour drive from Spokane to Seattle like the back of his hand. 

"Ever since I was little, since I could walk I remember being here when I was this big," said Caleb.

"He would bring up the Mariners multiple times, he would tell you the stats, he could tell you what they were doing, who was playing, who wasn’t," said Dr. Cristy Smith. "It was amazing."

But a hospital is no place to celebrate your 20th birthday, like Caleb did last year. So, a surprise birthday video from the Mariners legendary radio play-by-play voice Rick Rizzs, first baseman Ty France and former M’s reliever Paul Sewald made it unforgettable. Then, in late September, a year after his heart transplant, Providence sent Caleb to his first Mariner game with a new heart.

"I'm here now and it’s cool that it’s followed all the way through," said Caleb.

"He’s an inspiration for our patients, our ICU nurses who are in the trenches and to know that ‘Oh by the way Caleb is going to be walking up the stairs going to the Mariners game’ is a huge inspiration to our staff to our caregivers and to our community," said Dr. Cristy Smith.