Speaking from the Heart
 

Motivational speaker Brian Carden shares his ‘redemptive’ 18-year journey through a life-saving heart transplant and double amputation. To start with!

 


  • What is true motivation, and how can we find it each day, regardless of our circumstances?

  • Imagine the greatest gift you could ever give anyone: life.

  • People often ask me if a heart transplant changed my personality. Well, has it?

  • Where is God during a long-term illness? Does He even know we are suffering?

  • Every day in the United States, over 20 people die while waiting for an organ transplant.

Please email me, let’s start a conversation. wales534@gmail.com.

I am currently in the UK.

I facilitate Zoom group meetings and provide one-on-one counselling for discussions and support. Additionally, I often receive invitations to speak at small and large gatherings, such as sermons, panels, and conferences.

I do not charge a fee, except for travel expenses related to events outside of North Carolina or internationally. This is not a business for me; it is part of my ministry.

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My journey has been filled with emotional hardships, strong convictions, and a sense of losing control. Ultimately, this led me to surrender everything to God while finding joy in His grace. I am grateful to the remarkable doctors, nurses, and hospital staff who dedicate their talents and hard work to helping me and all those in need..

Meet Brian Carden.

I used to work in the aircraft manufacturing industry, but now I am retired. I am a proud father of three exceptional and independent daughters. I prefer to communicate in plain English and avoid using buzzwords. Originally from Wales, I moved to the United States in 1995 when I was 38 years old. A job offer that was too good to refuse prompted me to relocate with my family.

Age has become something of a puzzle for me lately. I received my donor heart on March 1, 2012, when I was 55 years old. My wonderful donor was 20 years younger than I. It's been 13 years since the transplant, which means I am now 68 years old—or perhaps 13, depending on my mood on any given day. I am now an ordained, non-denominational Minister and Amputee advocate.y

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 It was 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 1, 2012—St David’s Day, a very special occasion for all Welshmen. Saint David, known as Dewi Sant in Welsh, is our Patron Saint. I sat in my home office, propped up in a wheelchair, having reached yet another milestone in my two-and-a-half-year wait on the transplant list in my quest to stay alive. I was being supported by a remarkable intravenous drug called Milrinone. I wondered if I would make it to the next milestone I had set for myself; I doubted it and had largely resigned myself to my impending demise. I was almost looking forward to it.

Suddenly, the phone rang, and the caller ID displayed ‘Duke, 919 area code.’

“Hello… Mr. Carden?”

“Yes?”

“This is Melissa from Duke Transplant; we have a heart for you. How quickly can you get to Duke Hospital?”

I had always imagined achieving one of those bucket list items: racing through the streets at breakneck speed and getting pulled over by the police. I pictured the officer asking me what I thought I was doing, and I would reply, “I’m on my way for a heart transplant!” The officer would then tell me to follow him, and we would zoom off together in a cloud of smoke, sirens wailing and blue lights flashing!

The journey was 60.7 miles and took 58 minutes from Jamestown, NC, to Duke University Hospital. Surprisingly, I didn’t see a single police officer the entire trip!

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