Andy Karplus and Clay Donne

Andy Karplus and Clay Donne make unlikely friends. Andy, better known as Professor Karplus to his students, teaches biochemistry at Oregon State University. Clay represents a large Oregon company that manufactures wood products for the construction industry.

A shocking discovery brought the two men together when both of them learned they were suffering from life-threatening heart valve disease.

In Clay‘s case, it was his body that told him he was in trouble. “The defining point was body-surfing in Hawaii and getting to the beach, and standing there in six inches of water, not being able to move,” Clay said.

For Andy, it was a doctor who caught the problem before it was too late. “I don’t like to think about what it would have meant in my case if I hadn’t happened to have a physician who noticed the heart murmur. I could have already had heart failure, that’s how bad the leak was,” Andy remarked.

Within months, Andy and Clay each

underwent open-heart surgery to replace their diseased aortic valves. Clay's surgery was performed by Dr. Albert Starr, while Andy’s was done by Dr. Anthony Furnary, both at the St. Vincent’s Hospital in Portland. Both men received the Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT heart valve.

“The Edwards valve has given me total freedom and really no limits,” Andy said. “I don’t even think about the fact that I have an artificial valve in me. That’s how free I am.”

With hearts good as new, Clay and Andy took on the biggest physical challenge of their lives. During the fall of 2003, Andy (age 46), Clay (age 54) and ten other open-heart surgery survivors put their hearts and bodies to the test as they participated in the world’s largest and longest relay race. Because the team is composed of all open-heart surgery survivors, they nicknamed themselves “Scar Trek.”

Team Scar Trek took to the pavement in Oregon’s famous Hood-to-Coast relay, beginning at the top of Oregon’s Mt. Hood. Each team member ran a portion of the 197-mile long course, and at the end of 32 non-stop hours, the team celebrated its special bond and triumph together at the finish in Seaside, Oregon.

“If we hadn’t had the Edwards valve", Clay said, "there is no way in the world we could accomplish this kind of task, this race. No way in the world.”