by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — Jason Blatter has endured, thanks to incredible support from his family members.

And a love of harness racing.

The 43-year-old Blatter has undergone two heart transplants, one at age 14 and one at age 36, and will eventually need a kidney transplant due to all the medications he has had to take because of his surgeries.

His mother, Sydelle, his father, Howard, and his brothers Steve and Michael have been there for Jason every step of the way. The intangible — one of the big passions that gives him the motivation to keep persevering — is watching horses draw drivers in the sulky.

“This has been Jason’s salvation,” Sydelle said. “When he couldn’t go to school at 10, he was learning how to read, he taught himself how to read by reading those racing forms. I don’t know how he did it, but I used to have to bring the paper every day in the hospital so he could see the statistics and all that.

“He still likes the horses and still likes the track. He was just in the hospital for two weeks and the first thing he did when he got out was go to the Meadowlands. He gambles a little bit but mostly does it for the fun of it, and he really enjoys it.”

Blatter actually read the racing program while other kids his age were graduating from Dick and Jane and moving on to Highlights magazine.

Jason Blatter

“Usually people learn to read about second and third grade,” Blatter said. “My brothers liked racing and they and my dad used to take me to the track when I was like 7 or 8. I would figure out how to read by looking at the racing report and sounding out words. I know it sounds crazy. They tried to home school me but I had a short attention span. I left school after second grade and didn’t return until sixth so I would read the racing report and the (New York) Daily News.

“John Campbell was the number one driver back then; I love to watch him. I would always circle the horses I thought would win, and I would look the next day to see if they won or not. I did pretty good, actually.”

Born in Rockland County, N.Y., in the town of Orangeburg, Jason was born with a congenital heart disease, and had six holes in his original heart. He lived a normal life for his first seven years, going to nursery school and kindergarten. But entering third grade, an echocardiogram during a routine check-up detected that the heart wasn’t pumping correctly and he had to have a tricuspid valve replacement.

“There’s no real way to replace it, you have to take a valve from a pig and put porcelain on it and use it on humans,” Jason said. “That was pretty much my downfall. I never did well after that surgery. The only way I would survive would be to have a heart transplant.”

That was a million times easier said than done. Heart transplantations were not nearly as common in the 1980s as they are now, especially on youngsters. Sydelle and Howard took Jason to several different hospitals around the country and were always told the same thing — he was not a good candidate and that they should take Jason home to die.

“He had two previous surgeries and was a poor operative risk,” Sydelle said. “He was in severe heart failure and no one wanted to take a chance. My mindset was unaccepting of this, completely unaccepting. It was unfathomable and we had gone to various places across the country and they all turned him down.”

By that time, Jason said his appearance was gaunt and bony and he likened himself to “the commercials you saw about the kids starving in Ethiopia.”

One day, Sydelle was watching the Phil Donahue Show and saw that Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh was starting to do heart transplants on pediatric patients. The Blatters immediately wanted to send Jason’s records to Pittsburgh but met resistance from a New York cardiologist who Jason referred to as an “old school” doctor. After incessant pleading by Sydelle, the records were sent. They soon received an invitation from Pittsburgh to come out for an evaluation.

The Blatters immediately took a Lear Jet to western Pennsylvania. Jason was accepted as a candidate, but had to wait for a donor. His parents moved to Pittsburgh and when the time came, surgeon Barth Griffith — “a man who saved my life” — gave Jason sobering news.

“He said there were a lot of hills and valleys,” Jason said. “He said we’d take a chance but that it was a 40 percent chance I would survive and a 60 percent chance I wouldn’t. It was like 99-1 odds of a horse winning. It happens, but it doesn’t happen very often.”

Thus, on June 5, 1984, Blatter became the youngest person in the state of New York to receive a heart transplant and it turned out to be a success. He joked that “I had my first transplant at The Meadows.”

Jason managed to go back to school and have a normal childhood. He got his driver’s license and even got a job.

The Blatters eventually moved back to New York, and in 1990 Jason was invited by brother Michael to come out to Chicago. While in the Windy City, he became even more enamored with harness racing, spending plenty of time at an OTB.

“I wasn’t really doing anything in my life,” Blatter said. “He invited me out there, I loved it so much I ended up staying in Chicago for seven years. Michael and Steven are the best brothers anybody could have.”

Michael eventually moved back to New York and Jason followed. He and his parents eventually moved to Fort Lee, N.J., in order to remain close to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City so he could receive check-ups. In 2006 Jason wasn’t feeling well. His heart was not pumping as well and he needed a second transplant. He was admitted and waited three months for a heart to become available. After the March 27 surgery he remained for another four months.

“It was a great hospital,” he said. “They saved my life. I can’t thank them enough.”

Through it all, he remained an avid harness racing fan. There were times he would fight through drug induced drowsiness and stay up until 11:30 to listen to the post-race reports on New York’s Channel 9 from the Meadowlands and Yonkers.

Since the second transplant, Blatter has been doing well. He is not working as he is taking care of Howard, who is enduring his own medical issues. But he still gets out to the Meadowlands and is the picture of health.

“If you saw me,” he said proudly, “You’d never think I was sick a day in my life.”

And he does still face a kidney transplant, although his mom says that is down the road a bit.

In the end, it has been a true story of family love combined with love of harness racing.

“My mom was a life-saver and my brothers have been incredible,” Jason said.

“He couldn’t have done it without his brothers,” said the tough-as-nails Sydelle. “He’s had huge family support. His brothers and father are hugely supportive.

“And harness racing did keep him going, and still does. He’s met different drivers throughout the years. It’s harness racing that seems to be his passion.”

Jason won’t argue that point.

“Every morning when I would wake up in the hospital I’d ask my mom to bring me the Daily News to see the results,” he said. “My all-time dream was to go into the paddock and meet some of the drivers. I had a friend a couple years back who owns a horse. I didn’t meet any of the drivers, but we were in the paddock and it was really interesting. I would like to get in there and get pictures with some of my favorite drivers one day; guys like David Miller and John Campbell.”

Whether that happens or not, Blatter still feels blessed.

“I feel fortunate that somebody donated their kids’ organs to me, not once, but twice,” he said. “Some people don’t get a second chance, let alone a third chance.”

And thanks to a loving family and guys in the sulky, he is making the most of those chances.