At the young age of seven, Cameron Spray received a heart transplant that saved his life and on Saturday he will be celebrating his 18th birthday.

Shawn and Marci Spray, two Seymour natives that now live in Indy, adopted Spray at 10 days old when they lived just outside of Evansville and many of his relatives including grandparents, Mark and Jane Nowling and John and Sandy Spray, aunts, uncles and cousins live in the Seymour area.

Spray’s mother, Marci, said they knew his birth father had a heart transplant and a heart history. At the age of two, they had discovered Spray’s heart condition, diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, meaning the walls of the heart become rigid. For roughly five years, Spray was stable, but his heart failure was gradually progressing.

On Nov. 30, 2013, Spray received his transplant, and since then, he has been doing well, with regularly scheduled doctor’s visits.

Every three months, Spray sees the transplant team and has a cardiac catheterization performed yearly, to check on his heart and its vessels. On average, he has one doctor’s appointment a month.

With all these appointments, he could not afford to be afraid of needles like many of his peers were. Getting his blood drawn, swallowing medications daily, yearly surgeries and other medical interventions were normal parts of his life.

Turning 18 is a big transitional period for many teens, and Spray is no different. With his heart, he does have varying concerns with his life going forward.

When it comes to his health, Marci said he is a bit overwhelmed with taking over the responsibility. After he graduates high school — he is currently in his senior year — Spray and his mom are needing to closely consider him getting a job with good health insurance.

“Every career that we discuss, the transplant is kinda in the back of my mind,” Marci said,

Since school has not been easy on Spray, she talked about not being certain on her son immediately going onto college after high school.

When it came to school subjects, Spray said he struggled with math, but enjoys science and history, like learning about the world wars and keeping up on current events. In his free time, Spray loves playing video games with his friends and is involved in the youth group at his church.

A misunderstanding about heart transplants that Marci said she has noticed was people believing that once you get a heart transplant, you are cured.

“The point of (a heart) transplant is to give the child as good of a life for as long as they can,” she said. “We know the transplant is not a forever fix.”

One transplant is not enough. Eventually, Spray will have to get another.

Marci explained transplanted hearts develop coronary artery disease (CAD) and for some, that can develop within only a year while others can make it 30 years. On average, she said it develops at 20 years, which is when another transplant would be necessary.

With the medications he is on, there are other side effects to be aware of, such as developing cancer.

“It’s kind of like trading one set of problems for another potential set, but we also know that we wouldn’t have him today if it weren’t for (his heart) transplant,” Marci said.

Five days after his transplant, she said Spray was climbing on window sills, filled with energy.

“Before his transplant, he would tell the doctors, ‘I just want to be able to run like my friends’ — because he couldn’t,” Marci said. “And after transplant, he doesn’t have any trouble keeping up with friends anymore.”

A huge support system for Spray is Flying Horse Farms in Ohio — a medical specialty camp for kids with serious health conditions. At the camp, they have themed weeks in relation to the different illnesses they support. Spray attends with peers who have had heart transplants or reconstructive heart surgeries.

The counsellors also are great people for Spray to look up to, having gone through similar experiences with heart conditions.

Growing up with his heart complications, Marci said she saw how much empathy her son has, “more than the average teenager boy has.”