‘I want to win everything’: Hanover man to represent Team USA at World Transplant Games after heart transplant

HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Just two years after receiving a new heart, a Hanover man is preparing to represent Team USA at the 2025 World Transplant Games in Germany.

Kyle Dodd, 39, said his health crisis began suddenly around November 2022.

"I got what I thought was like the stomach flu, [and] that lasted for like a month and a half, and, it was clear something was wrong," he said.

Dodd said that as an Army veteran, he was in great shape and could not understand what was wrong. He said doctors also struggled to diagnose him for months.

"I wasn't getting better, I went to the hospital for the fourth ER visit in January of 2023," he said. "[I] just went in there and essentially said, I'm not leaving until y'all figure out what's wrong with me."

Kyle Dodd and his fiancé Becca Johnson after Dodd's surgery in 2023. (Photo: Becca Johnson)

That's when Dodd said he learned that he was in need of a new heart.

"They ran 100 different tests on me, and the last one they ran was a photo of my heart, and they saw a golf ball sized blood clot was clogging up my entire heart,” Dodd said.

He was given a mechanical heart for a few days until doctors found a heart transplant donor. Dodd said he'd always been an organ donor himself, but never truly understood the importance until it became a matter of life or death.

“I wouldn't be here if someone hadn't you know, decided to be an organ donor," he said. "You get to save lives when you’re gone. What is a more noble and powerful calling than being able to help other people get to see their dad or mom or son or daughter again?”

He described a long and painful recovery but said he pulled strength from his family and leaned on his military experience.

“I always had that voice in the back of my head that was like, you know, you’ve got some work to do, man," he said. "This isn’t the end of the fight."

His fiancée, Becca Johnson was by his side every step of the way and introduced him to the World Transplant Games during his recovery. The event brings together transplant recipients from around the world to show how they regained strength.

“He embodies everything that the Transplant Games… I feel like represents,” Becca said. “And when I saw it, I thought, like, this is the obvious next step here.”

Dodd spent months training to compete in golf, swimming and track-and-field throwing events.

“I want to win everything that I go for,” he said. “I’m in six events and I want to come home with six gold medals.”

Kyle Dodd showing Team USA track and field uniform. (Photo: Deniel Dookan, 8News)

Gold medal or not, Dodd said representing his country in Germany after all he had overcome was the greatest win.

“I hope that my kids and Becca and my family are proud,” he said tearfully. “And just anybody who’s seen my journey, like they’ve been able to pull something that maybe has helped them or inspired them or just, encouraged them to work really hard to be where they want to.”

Dodd and his fiancée will fly to Germany on Friday ahead of the opening ceremony, and are raising money for the trip. You can support his journey here. According to the World Transplant Games, the swimming and track and field competitions will be livestreamed on their website.