After more than three years, during which I underwent three surgeries, a

radiation treatment, had more than 90 doctors to visit, examine and treat me at five

different hospitals, the University of Chicago Medical Center has rejoined my heart

transplant team that it started in the first place.

This week, Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam, UCMC's ace cardiac surgeon, and

Dr. Allen Anderson, UCMC cardiologist, have promised to add me to UCMC's heart

transplant list.

That means that for the present, I am now on the heart transplant lists for the

Mayo Clinic and UCMC. Now, it is up to me to decide which list I wants to stay on.

Yes, the Mayo Clinic is much more highly acclaimed for heart

transplantation, and yes, it was the Mayo that decided to put me on its heart

transplant list when nobody else I contacted would.

But my choice is UCMC for several reasons. They include the following:

1. I no longer will have to worry about the uncertain circumstances, like

weather and availability, of having an air ambulance to fly me from Chicago to

Rochester, Minn., within a four-hour time window when a heart becomes available.

2. I no longer will have to stay in Rochester, 365 miles from my home in

Hazel Crest, at least three and a half months after my heart transplant operation.

3. I no longer will have to worry about potentially devastating out-of-pocket

expenses of a private jet and the living expenses of staying in Rochester for an

extended time.

4. If God wills me through a successful transplantation, I now can spend

most of my recovery time at home with my children and grandchildren and be more

easily accessible to other relatives and friends.

5. If the Lord chooses to take me, I will already be home in Chicago instead

of another distant city.

Thank you, Jesus! Hallelujah!

The Lord just keeps right on blessing me. I don't deserve the blessings of His

grace and mercy. Nevertheless, God just keeps right on blessing me.

It was on March 31, 2008, that the UCMC made plans to place me on its

heart transplant list. Their medications had done all they could. So, in accordance

to normal procedure, the UCMC started thoroughly examining me to make sure

it was not wasting a donor's heart on an unhealthy recipient.

Unfortunately, at least for that moment, doctors at the UCMC and

Northwestern discovered a cancerous tumor on my brain and cancer in my

prostate. Those revelations immediately disqualified me from UCMC's heart

transplant list. Thank God, the brain tumor was determined to be benign and

the prostate cancer was determined to be early-staged, localized and treatable.

I then started this blog, promising to give God the thanksgiving and

glory and to give you a running account of how He would be healing me. Many

of you started reading this blog and praying with me and for me and have

continued to do so. And as the bible said they would, the prayers of the righteous

availed much for me then and have been availing for me ever since.

On May 21, 2008, I underwent the radiation operation of being implanted

with more than 80 radiation seeds. And, again, that God, my prostate cancer went

into immediate progressive remission. But the UCMC had a very conservative

policy on prostate cancer. It required me to be cancer-free for at least five years

before they would put me on its list.

A little over a year later, I went to the Mayo Clinic for a second opinion. They

have a more up-to-date, liberal policy on prostate cancer because it is one of the

slowest growing cancers. So, after they sent me through their tests and

examinations, Mayo Clinic doctors placed me on its heart transplant list on

Nov. 15, 2009.

I continued to be examined and have the symptoms of my end-stage

congestive heart failure relieved by medications until I suffered an almost fatal

setback on Jan. 11, 2010, when some false bad news about me losing my job and

insurance shocked and stressed me into a cardio-genic shock, a form of heart

attack . That event resulted in me spending 30 days in a total of three hospitals--

South Suburban, Northwestern and UCMC--and being placed on life support for

two three-day stints. On Jan. 29, 2010 I was implanted with a heart pump, a

Heartmate LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device) to save my life and sustain me

until I can get a new heart.

Now, God has returned the UCMC to where it first started by preparing me to

be placed on its heart transplant list.

Yes, there, again, are serious risks. I will be sawed open for the third time

in my life. So many things can go wrong during and after the operation The

surgeons can do a great job and then nurses may fail to provide me proper

post-operative care. I will also have to take immuno-suppressants for the rest of my

life. Those medications decrease my immune system so that my body won't reject

the new heart.

Nevertheless, my hope is in Jesus and in God's grace and mercy. If there is

to be any healing and any successful surgery and post-operative care, it will come

from God through the instruments of doctors, nurses and medications. So it's

prayer time for me perhaps more than ever. Yes, it's me, it's me oh Lord, standing in

the need of prayer. Won't you please continue to pray for e and with me and I will

do the same for you.

God bless you.

Today (Aug. 11) is my 68th birthday and I'm ready cry.

A tear from my right eye just beat the left to the drop.

To those of you who have been praying with me and for me since I started blogging my struggles with a cancerous brain tumor, cancer of my prostate and my being elevated to No. 1 on the Mayo Clinic's heart transplant list, you know somewhat what I'm talking about.

I'm blessed to be alive.

Blessed to be able to walk, although often with great difficulty, and to deal with a million dollars worth of advanced medical equipment implanted inside me and powered by batteries I wear and charge every 12 hours and by being cabled up to a bedside power console plugged into the AC wall socket of my bedroom.

Blessed to be able to speak for myself, feed myself, drink when I'm thirsty. drive a car, shower myself with special equipment. I'm blessed.

I'm blessed to have the best wife, the best daughters, the best son-in-law, the best sisters and brothers, the best mother-in-law and the best friends to help look after me.
Then there ministers like Rev. Jimmie Lee Banks, Rev. Clay Evans, Rev. Darrell Jackson, Rev. Henry Hardy, Rev. Leonard DeVille, Rev. Gregory Macon, Rev. Andre Allen, Rev. Gregory Macon, Evangelist Minnie Joe Evans and her pastor Rev. George Howse, Evangelist Beverly Rogers and her husband Wylie, Deacon Richard Nevels and his wife Rose, my Sun-Times bosses and co-workers and so many others looking after me.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm blessed by the mighty hand of our God' or grace and mercy, His resurrected and redeeming son, Jesus Christ, and their cast of thousands.

I'm blessed to still be working for the Sun-Times for my 39th year and to still be preaching and singing before congregations across the country.
I'm blessed to be in Springfield, Mass., right know to cover my very first Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, where five former Bulls, including former assistant coach Tex Winter, are being either inducted into the Hall of Fame or given various lifetime achievement awards.

Then there are great American giants from Chicago to include Lee B. Stern, Mike Ditka, Rocky Wirtz, Jerry Reinsdorf, Irwin Mandel, Dr. Valluvan Jevanandam, the late Irv Kupcinet, Rick Tellender, Mary Mitchell, Stella Foster, Mark Bartelstein, Dr. Michael Flaherty, Dr. Allen Aderson, Elinor Lowry, Steve Schanwald and so many other supporters and enablers.
Insert your name right here, too, because people like you all are my birthday presents and your prayers are flaming candles atop a cake of uncommon kindness.

I don't apologize to any doubters and pouters who felt I should have been dead three years ago. They wonder what's taking me so long to die. When I first started blogging this journey and real friends and supporters like John, Marie, Donna, Beverly, Marcia, Gwen, Tomas, Constance, Eugene and Alicia rallied around me prayerfully to bid me God's speed.

But there are others who expected and even wished that my serious health problems to result in a quick kill. i want you to know that even you play a valuable part in my life and I thank god for every one of my enemies and naysayers. After all, if there were no enemies, who would need a friend.

You enemies of mine have kept me praying, kept me singing and preaching, kept me humble, kept me inspired, kept me from getting too careless and too cocky. On behalf of all my supporters and me, in heaven and on earth, I want to thank all you enemies of mine and the rest of us for doing a fine job. Many of us would not have made it this far without your encouragement.

In case you just tuned in, today (Aug 11) is my 68th birthday and I'm celebrating by looking back over my life and by seeing so much that my God has done for me. He's never failed me, never has left me alone and he's always answered my prayers.

Oh if you only knew how many times I have prayed for the Sun-Times. I was occasionally called "nigger" and "stupid black SOB" when I joined the paper in 1972 as its first black sportswriter. But though I've had odds with these types of people, I forgave them, kept praying for them in particular and paper in general, and the Lord has sustained and delivered us through many dangers, toils and snares.

During my 39 years working for the Sun-Times, including going into the communities to give motivational speeches, my dearest friend albert Dickens and I have worked for 12 different sports editor and under seven different ownership, including a brief employment under Rupert Murdoch,
Many times, the Sun-Times had been counted out and doomed for failure. Twice the company even fired me and has bought out or laid off legions of the finest media professionals ever to work a daily newspaper. Then there are others who defected to seek vacational asylum at the Tribune and other media outlets, to unclude radio and televison,

The is my 68th birthday, and, God willing, my last year of working for one of the greatest newspapers in the world.

No need to wish me a happy birthday, because I'm already having one. Every birthday that finds me still alive, relatively healthy, sane and functional and enjoying life with my family is a happy one.

Yes, I'm still waiting for a new heart. The reason I haven't gotten one yet is the 22 months I've been on the transplant list is because it was not God's will. In due season, I will get what God wants to give me, when he wants to give it and however He wants to give it.

Any way all this shakes out is alright with me because my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground in sinking sand.

I'm praying for you all. Please pray for me, too.

God bless you

In 1961, we first met and started going together at Sumner High School in Kansas City, Kan. We were both super nerds. I was a senior and student council president. She was a shy girl who slew me with her beauty, and with her purity of passion, purpose and honesty. But love equalized even though while she has been an angel of a wife, I, sometimes, have been a devil of a husband.

We have three daughters: Nicole Chapman, Noelle Banks and Natasha Banks. Three of our other children, including twin boys, died at birth. We have five grandchildren: Lauren, David, Timothy and Nina Chapman, and Caleb Emanuel Banks. We were blessed all these years to be a hard-working, two-parent household. I was rigidly old-school in the way I raise my daughter. My goals was to make sure they each got a college degree before they either got pregnant or married.

Joyce worked 40 years before retiring last year. I've worked for 46 years, mostly as a newspaper reporter, and hope to retire this year after getting a new heart. God blessed Joyce and me to bring that to pass. Joyce and I got married June 30, 1968 in the house in KCK's Quindaro community, where her mother, Mrs. Emma Wooten, 88, still lives. I am also old-school in love. I believe in love. I believe that true love covers a multitude of faults.

Nothing makes me madder than seeing a man mistreat a woman who loves him. So he exploits her love to beat, cheat and mistreat her. I pray that my younger daughters, Noelle and Natasha, find the kind of strong Christian husband that Nicole has found in Larry. I have incredible love and respect for Noelle, a single mother and a near spotless Christian. She sings like an angel and now she's studying to become one of God's ministers. I have felt God's calling on her for years. Her devotion to God puts most of us to shame. And Caleb? She loves her son and he loves his mother dearly.

In my marriage with Joyce, I have placed primary emphasis on our love for God, love for each other, love for our family and the enjoyment of thrilling, exhilarating, unforgettable experiences. I prize wonderful, happy experiences over material things. We can always enjoy our wonderful vacations in Kansas City, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, Las Vegas, Paris, London (she really loves London), Honolulu, Maui and Kauai Hawaii, Cancun (Mexico), Munich (Germany), Salzburg (Austria), Estes Park, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Fla., and Palm Springs, Calif., Washington, D.C., New York and Amsterdam.

I'm still praying and waiting and praying and waiting and......for a new heart.

It's get boring. Painfully boring.

That's one reason I have been lax in posting entries on this blog.

If I am getting tired or telling you that I'm still praying and waiting for a new heart, I'm

certain that many of you get tired of reading it.

But if there is anything the devil wants me to do is get bored from and tired of

praying and waiting.

But I must remember the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Wait on the Lord. Be of

good courage and He shall strengthen thy heart."

Wait on the Lord, the prophet urges. For "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew

their strength. They shall mount up on wings of eagle. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint."

I thank God for people like Marie, who remains a constant encouragement to me

through her comments submitted to this blog. Her husband was paralyzed by a stroke

years ago. But she has remained ever prayerful, loving, thankful, faithful and hopeful.

After reading another recent comment from Marie, I was challenged to not

slacken in this fight for life.

I am reminded that matters most is that I am still alive and still blessed. I am

reminded that just as there is no personal credit or honor for being healed quickly,

there also is no shame in having to wait for a slower one.

If I have nothing tremendously new to report, then I must continue to testify about

what the Lord has already done for me.

I am blessed that my brain tumor was diagnosed as benign.

I am blessed that my prostate cancer was early-staged, localized and responsive to

radiation seeds treatment.

I am blessed that my prostate cancer has been aggressive, progressive remission

sufficient for me to be cleared by the Mayo Clinic to be placed on its heart transplant list.

I am blessed that the mild stroke I suffered in December of 2009 was a temporary

event that I survived with no residual paralysis.

I am blessed that I survived the cardio-genic shock I suffered on Jan 11 of 2010, then

survived two stints on life support and the open-heart surgery of having a heart pump

implanted.

I am blessed that I not only was allowed to continue working but was returned to our

paper's high-profile beat of covering the Bulls, a beat that I was hired to cover in 1972,

more than 16 years before Derrick Rose was even born.

I am blessed to have a faithful, loving wife like Joyce. She won't let me give up,

give out or give in.

She challenges me to live the sermons I've preached for 58 years. And the core

of those sermons is that I can accomplish anything through faith in Jesus Christ, who is

the real healer, the real deliverer, the real sustainer.

Thank you for continuing to read my blog. I will try harder to post entries more

often. Please continue to pray for me and I will pray for you.

God bless you.

God bless you.

I'm still praying and waiting and praying and waiting and......for a new heart.

It's get boring. Painfully boring.

That's one reason I have been lax in posting entries on this blog.

If I am getting tired or telling you that I'm still praying and waiting for a new heart, I'm

certain that many of you get tired of reading it.

But if there is anything the devil wants me to do is get bored from and tired of

praying and waiting.

But I must remember the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Wait on the Lord. Be of

good courage and He shall strengthen thy heart."

Wait on the Lord, the prophet urges. For "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew

their strength. They shall mount up on wings of eagle. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint."

I thank God for people like Marie, who remains a constant encouragement to me

through her comments submitted to this blog. Her husband was paralyzed by a stroke

years ago. But she has remained ever prayerful, loving, thankful, faithful and hopeful.

After reading another recent comment from Marie, I was challenged to not

slacken in this fight for life.

I am reminded that matters most is that I am still alive and still blessed. I am

reminded that just as there is no personal credit or honor for being healed quickly,

there also is no shame in having to wait for a slower one.

If I have nothing tremendously new to report, then I must continue to testify about

what the Lord has already done for me.

I am blessed that my brain tumor was diagnosed as benign.

I am blessed that my prostate cancer was early-staged, localized and responsive to

radiation seeds treatment.

I am blessed that my prostate cancer has been aggressive, progressive remission

sufficient for me to be cleared by the Mayo Clinic to be placed on its heart transplant list.

I am blessed that the mild stroke I suffered in December of 2009 was a temporary

event that I survived with no residual paralysis.

I am blessed that I survived the cardio-genic shock I suffered on Jan 11 of 2010, then

survived two stints on life support and the open-heart surgery of having a heart pump

implanted.

I am blessed that I not only was allowed to continue working but was returned to our

paper's high-profile beat of covering the Bulls, a beat that I was hired to cover in 1972,

more than 16 years before Derrick Rose was even born.

I am blessed to have a faithful, loving wife like Joyce. She won't let me give up,

give out or give in.

She challenges me to live the sermons I've preached for 58 years. And the core

of those sermons is that I can accomplish anything through faith in Jesus Christ, who is

the real healer, the real deliverer, the real sustainer.

Thank you for continuing to read my blog. I will try harder to post entries more

often. Please continue to pray for me and I will pray for you.

Bod bless you.

God bless you.

This Christmas, we celebrated the birthday of Jesus Christ by giving money

to the church, to charities and individuals, by decorating a record three Christmas

trees in our home with thousands of light, including 1,000 LED white and blue

lights alone on the largest tree in the family room and a gaggle of presents under

the tree to exchange between our children and their children.

We sang and prayed before the kids opened their gifts. But by that time, my

wife Joyce and I knew that the most precious physical present we all, including

you, were hoping I'd receive was neither under the my figurative tree. There was

no new heart for me under my Christmas tree. So, I'll just keep on waiting and

praying.

On Nov. 16, after I had been elevated to No. 1 on the Mayo Clinic's heart

transplant list for B-positive blood types with big chests, I was told the chances

were around 70 percent that I would get a new heart by the end of the year.

After all, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where I am being treated,

had been averaging two heart transplant operations a month this year. So I felt

the numbers were in my favor to get a new heart sooner than later.

Unfortunately, the Mayo had limited my No. 1 status in the 1-A group to 30

days for two reasons. First, their policy guaranteed me that because my heart

was being sustained by a heart pump, technically described as a Heartmate II

Left-Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD). Second, the Mayo rotates that 1-A status

between other LVAD patients suffering end-stage congestion heart failure just as

I am.

Although I badly need a new heart because it is my best chance for

long-term survival since my heart would be pumping at roughly 10 percent

efficiency without the pump, I am not in as dire straits as other patients with

failing hearts.

"If you were in worse health, you would remain at the top of the 1-A list," Jody

Hanson, the nurse case manager representing the cardiac surgeons and

cardiologists treating me in Rochester, "But you have been responding to the

pump exceptionally well. You are in much better shape than most LVAD patients

who are suffering end-stage congestive heart failure. So we have returned you

to the 1-B status where there is only one patient ahead of you."

In other words, in the last couple of weeks, I was dropped from being first

among those classified 1-A to second among those classified 1-B because that

other 1-B patient has been on the list longer.

"If your condition were to worsen, say, because of a pump malfunction,

your situation would be more urgent and you would be returned to the top of the

list," Hanson said.

But, until my condition worsens, other heart patients in worst shape with get

the 1-A classification. But when the next two hearts for B-positive blood types

become available, and there is no similar patient classified 1-A, then those hearts

will go to my current cardiac colleague and me.

Yes, I'm disappointed. When I was first placed on the Mayo Clinic's heart

transplant list on Nov. 15, 2009, I was told I should be getting a new heart within

months because of my rarer blood type. Unfortunately, I suffered a cadio-genic

on Jan. 11 that resulted in me spending 30 straight days in three different hospitals.

When I underwent open-heart surgery on Jan. 20 to have the heart pump

implanted to save my life, that assured me of not being eligible for another

open-heart surgery until I had spent three more months recovering from the

LVAD operation.

Obviously, My chances of receiving a new heart are still high since, as

of Christmas, there was only on patient ahead of me.

Joyce and I recently spent two weeks in Rochester, Minn., so that if a heart became

available I would be easily accessible. It was a boring stay plagued by a 17-inch

snowfall that resulted in me being stuck in the snow twice while going out to get some

food. But the most enjoyable part of a stay was my opportunity to sing Christmas

carols and other songs in the Mayo Clinic's giant atrium at the subway level. Jane Belau

was my pianist. She plays there every Monday and Thursday as part of her many

community service activities. I also joined some regulars who are Mayo employees, who

love to sing and who normally joins Belau to contribute beautiful music that also makes

for powerful medicine for all of us who are there, from all over the world, to receive

treatment for our assorted health challenges.

It would have been nice to celebrate Christmas with a new heart, which

is what we prayed for. But I'm still having a merry Christmas. Once again, my baby

daughter, Natasha Banks, flew up from Atlanta; My middle daughter Noelle came

over with her son. Caleb. And my oldest daughter, Nicole Chapman, came over

with her husband, Larry, and their children Lauren, David, Timothy and Nina.

We had a beautiful time celebrating during the day. Then at night, Joyce,

Natasha and I watched "It's A Wonderful Life," together, because that's my

favorite Christmas movie and because Natasha said she had never really seen

it before.

I warned Joyce and Natasha beforehand that I would cry at least four or

five times and to not make fun of me. Really. I've seen that movie maybe 100

times now, in black-and-white and in color, and I can't help but cry at the peak

scenes of sadness and gladness. Since no other movie moves me so deeply so

consistently, I guess I'd have to call "It's A Wonderful Life" my favorite movie of

all time.

Oh, I love "Gone With The Wind," "The 10 Commandments," "The

Greatest Story Ever Told," "Star Wars," "The Godfather," "Bladerunner,"

"Gadiator," "Raiders of the Lost Art," "Schindler's List," "Les Uns Et Les Autres,"

"Scarface," "Casablanca," "Lost Horizon" and so many, many more. But "It's

A Wonderful Life" is my favorite. And when I think of my life, my ups and downs,

on the whole, I can't complaint. Mine is not a perfect life, neither the worst nor

the best. But, thank God, it is a wonderful life.

God bless you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Every time our phones ring, whether it is our cells phones or home phone,

my wife Joyce and I jump, look at each other and eagerly answer.

We are waiting, most of all, for the call that tells me, "Lacy, we believe we

have found the right heart to replace your failing one. Please report to the

operating table at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minn., within four hours."

It's been 23 days since I was placed at the top of the heart transplant

list at the Mayo Clinic. The heart must match my body size and B-positive blood

type. So our lives have been simplified and distilled down to the bare basic of

waiting for this earth's most precious physical gift: a healthy heart.

Prior to now, we'd often not answer the phone if we were busy or just

didn't want to be bothered. If the call was important, the caller would leave a message

that we'd eventually listen to and decide whether to respond.

But until I get a heart transplant, we can't neglect any phone call because it just

might be THE CALL.

So, I'm still waiting. If not for my faith in God, this wait would be the heaviest

of waits. But my faith in God has relieved me of the weary weight of worrying,

wondering and wishing. I am at peace with God. I learned long ago to pray that

God's kingdom come and that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Whatever the outcome, I will let you

know. Meantime, I'm waiting. We have already enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving

and we are prepared to celebrate Jesus' birthday and and enjoy a merry

Christmas, which we wish to all of you. Our Christmas tree is all aglow with blue

and white LED lights. I am praying to receive a new heart for Christmas, which

would be the most precious present I could receive. Nevertheless, we will have

a merry Christmas not because of the gift of a new heart, but because of the gift

God gave man in the form of his only begotten Son, Jesus.

God bless you.

Lean over and tell somebody near you, "Lacy Banks told me to tell you

that God is still in the blessing business."

Sisters and brothers, as of yesterday (Nov. 16, 2010), The Mayo Clinic's

main unit, in Rochester, Minn., has elevated me to the very top of their heart

transplant list.

I am now in the 1A classification, the clinic's highest, with nobody ahead of

me for B-positive blood types.

If I get my healthier heart within the next month, I want to retire within the

following six weeks. This is half the time normally accorded for heart

transplantation recovery. But it will give me time to have the operation covered by

a major insurance carriers as primary provider and Medicare as secondary, thus

sparing my wife and me exorbitant out-of-pockets expenses. It would also provide

valuable time to make the transition to Medicare as primary provider and find the

best Medicare supplement.

At age 67, I believe I am the oldest reporter at the paper. I have been

working for the Sun-Times for 38 years and two and a half months. I'm tired

children. Joyce, my wife of 42 years and girlfriend for 49, has already returned

at age 65. And she makes me sick being able to chill whenever she wants to.

I want to get me new heart, retire, preach God's word better than ever and enjoy

some retirement. My mama died at 42 and never got to retire. My father died at

64, after pastoring for 50 years. He never retired and we never had health

insurance and we had to pass the hat to help bury him. My father-in-law also died

at age 64 just months after he had retired. I pray to do better for my family.

When a heart becomes available in the Mayo Clinic's midwest region of

Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas, I will be its first recipient if the heart is for

my blood type and body size. If a heart, within my blood type and body size,

becomes available within 500 miles of Rochester, to include Chicago, St. Louis,

Kansas City, Etc., I would also qualify for it after the first regional option has been

exhausted and if I am the leading candidate within 500 miles..

According to Jody Hanson, my heart transplant coordinator of the clinic,

there is "a very strong possibility," some rank it as high at 70 percent, that I will

receive my new heart within a month.

Because I am being sustained by a heart pump, or Heartmate II LVAD (left-

ventricular assist device), and because I am 385 miles away from Rochester and

not an in-patient in Rochester, I am being accorded this privileged rank through

the month of December.

Joyce and I already have our bags pack and a choice or two air

ambulances and two private jets on standby alert to fly us to Rochester within

the four hours they want me to be on the operating table once they locate a

heart for me.

In the spring of this year, I had all along hoped to retire no later than the end

of next month because I was hoping to have had my new heart by now.

Unfortunately, I had suffered a critical setback. False information in a Jan. 11 phone

call from Sheri Stokes, Blue Cross Blue Shield, telling me that my Sun-Times

employment and health insurance coverage had been terminated, excited me into

a heart attack (more specifically, a cardio-genic shock) as I desperately called

Jeannie Smyers, Barbara Ercoli, my union reps, my sports editor and others at the

paper trying to confirm the devastating news.

By the time I was assured, by Jeannie and Barbara, that this was false

information, I had spent 30 days in the hospital--rotating between South Suburban

Hospital, Northwestern Hospital and the University of Chicago Medical Center--

trying to save my life. I was placed on three-day life support twice before I

underwent open-heart surgery to have the heart pump implanted by Dr. Valluvan

Jeevanandam on Jan. 29 at the UCMC.

I resumed work for the Chicago Sun-Times on April 5.

I appreciate the patience and generous cooperation by the Sun-Times in

helping ease the load during this period of my grave health issues. I know that the

paper has been laying off employees younger and more talented. I am presently

conversing with human resources and union insurance reps to lay the foundation

for my retirement and transition in insurance coverage.

It's been 31 months since Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam, University of Chicago

Medical Center chief cardiac surgeon, and Dr. Allen Anderson, UCMC's ace

cardiologist, diagnosed me for end-stage congestive heart failure and told me I

needed a heart transplant to live longer than three or four years.

But in the process of examining to make sure I was healthy enough to risk

being given somebody else's precious heart, I was disqualified when they

discovered a cancerous brain tumor on my brain and a cancerous prostate tumor.

During these last 31 months, after God blessed me to be examined and

treated by 97 different doctors at eight different hospitals in three different states,

my brain tumor and prostate cancer have been brought under control, I have been

implanted with a heart pump and I have rallied from being refused admittance to

the national heart transplant list to rising to the very top of it.

Thank you, Jesus!

In the Mayo Clinic's midwest region, that includes Minnesota, Wisconsin

and the Dakotas, NOBODY is ahead of me among B-positive blood types. If a

heart becomes available in a more remote region during this period, then I will be

eligible to receive that heart, too, so long as it is a B-positive blood-type heart.

Each year some 800,000 patients around the world need a heart transplant.

Only 3,500 receive them.

Some 4,000 Americans need a heart transplant each year. Less than 2,000

get them. At Mayo Clinic, 97.7 percent of heart transplant recipients survive at least

one month, 94.85 survive at least one year, 80 percent survive three years and 75

percent survive at least five years.

As I told y'all before, I feel guilty and unworthy knowing somebody has to die

for me to get his or her heart. Then I calm down and think scientific progress. Death

has always been inevitable with us humans. But God has blessed medical science

to acquire the skill to salvage organs from dead donors and transplant them to save

the lives of others.

My wife, Joyce, my family, friends, Sun-Times staff and you readers have

been most comforting and encouraging to me. Thank you. More than 1,000

comments have been submitted to my blog (http://blogs.suntimes.com/banks/),

where I have been keeping you informed of my situation.

Once I am told a heart is available, I must be on the operating table in

Rochester in four hours. Joyce and I already have our bags packed and four

different air ambulances and private charter planes are ready to transport me.

Regardless of the outcome, I will inform you myself.

"Yeah, but how is Lacy Banks going to keep us informed if he is dead?",

well you just relax and let me assure you that while we're all trying to figure it out,

God has already worked it out.

God bless you.