He needed a heart transplant, and things were not looking good.
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Former Cincinnati Bengals coach Sam Wyche underwent heart transplant surgery early Tuesday morning, according to his personal Facebook page.
Wyche was said to have less than a week to find a donor heart. “Please pray for the donor, the donor’s family and the incredible medical team who have been and are taking care of him and doing this heart transplant in the wee hours of Tuesday”.
“I pretty much thought most of the day was, he was going to end up passing away and then found out he was hopefully going to get a new heart, which it turned out he did”, Kerry Wyche said.
Wyche is now recovering in a Charlotte Hospital and is said to be “doing great”.
“I am thrilled to tell all of you he is now at 2:50 a.m. (Wyche) is on his way to the (operating room) for his new heart”.
The post says that the surgeon said Sam did great and the total operating time was about 4.5 hours, according to the post. They are concerned that this may create a problem attaching an LVAD.
“I’ve had a lot of people praying for me and a lot of people pulling for me to have a heart in time”.
Wyche played his college football at Furman and played quarterback in the NFL for several teams including the Cincinnati Bengals, Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, St. Louis Cardinals and Buffalo Bills.
Wyche was diagnosed with congestive heart failure 16 years ago. He took the team to the playoffs in 1988 and 1990 and to the Super Bowl in 1988, losing on a last-minute touchdown drive by the San Francisco 49ers. Wyche later became the head coach of the Buccaneers from 1992-1995. In recent years, he’s served as a volunteer coach at Pickens High School.
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After his coaching career, Wyche was a game analyst for CBS Sports coverage of the National Football League for several seasons.
