OMAHA, Neb. — Robert “Tito” Santiago can be described as having the heart of a survivor. The 67-year-old Yankton man, a longtime elementary school custodian who has beaten the odds by enduring six heart attacks during the past two decades, was scheduled to undergo heart transplant surgery Friday evening at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Tito’s wife, Lynnette, told the Press & Dakotan Friday afternoon that she had received a phone call at about 8 a.m. that day about his procedure being moved up a day from Saturday.
“I was just shocked,” she said. “I knew it could happen quickly, but I really didn’t think it would happen this quickly. We’re grateful, we’re scared, anxious — just all of the above — so many emotions involved with something like this.
It’s just miraculous how quickly all this has happened.” Friday’s phone call was not the only important one Lynnette received this week, as she and Tito learned on Wednesday that he had been put near the top of a national transplant waiting list to receive a new heart. “They’re told what type of blood type he is and body type,” she said.
“If one becomes available that is similar to what the doctors are looking for, they let them know. Then the team of doctors make the decision whether or not that’s an appropriate heart for that patient. It’s a whole process.
” Thursday brought the news that a healthy heart had been located and accepted for Tito, followed by his surgery sched.