JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 An upstate New York couple is looking to spread holiday cheer to some patients at a local hospital, as they say they received an invaluable gift this year. <\/p>\n
A new chance at life, that is how one heart recipient describes his new heart. Now he\u2019s looking to spread holiday joy. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Playing the guitar with his wife, Sandra Olsen, is something Loren Vinal is beyond thankful for. For every breath he takes, he notes he\u2019s able to sing thanks to what his family calls a Christmas miracle. <\/p>\n Christmas Day in 2017, while he was on tour in Nashville as the lead guitarist, his wife noticed something was off. <\/p>\n \u201cMy breathing was very labored, and she also said that I was wheezing in and out,\u201d said Loren Vinal, heart recipient. <\/p>\n Sandra, who is a registered nurse, quickly took him to a hospital. He got diagnosed with heart failure on what was supposed to be one of the jolliest days of the year. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile we think of the holidays as being all jolly and you know, sometimes you have to look a little deeper for the miracle,\u201d said Sandra Olsen, his wife. <\/p>\n Vinal spent the next year on medications. He needed a heart transplant, but the only option he had at the time was a heart pump implant. He spent years in and out of the hospital, where he kept his mood up by starting a band called Troubled Hearts. <\/p>\n