BLACKHISTORYMONTH
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Portland Observer
Online
‘City of Roses’
Volume XLV
Number 5
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • February 3, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by o livia o livia /t he p ortland o bserver
Belinda Olive-Beltran of Portland holds a picture of her late brother, Bobby Olive, who died in 1985. Thirty years ago, his heart was used in the irst Oregon heart trans-
plant. The family is hosting a fundraiser in celebration of Black History Month to help others with lifesaving medical transplants.
Family’s Lifetime Bond
First heart transplant was Black History moment
o livia o livia
t he p ortland o bserver
Every day across the United States and here in Or-
egon, someone needs a heart transplant. The process
can be complicated, but at least half of those offered
a new heart manage to survive an extra 10 years. The
lifesaving medical procedure has improved vastly in
the past 30 years, but here in Oregon all of that is
due in some part to the donation of one young black
man’s heart back in 1985.
Bobby Olive’s heart brought more than just new
by
life to its recipient. His heart went to Wesley D. Mer-
rill, a 44-year-old white man from Battle Ground,
Washington. From then on, two families were sud-
denly united in a lifelong bond that bridged racial
differences.
Olive’s heart gave Merill an extra ive years with
his loved ones, but as the donor of Oregon’s irst
heart transplant, it also started a new era for what
was possible in preserving life.
As one family mourned the death of their young
son, another celebrated the survival of their father.
Olive’s mother, Martha Van Arsdale, struggled with
mixed feelings for years, mourning her son’s death
but appreciating that his heart gave life to another
person.
Olive’s sister, Belinda Olive-Beltran, says her
brother lost his life in a shooting while he was com-
mitting an apartment burglary.
“It was devastating to see our brother die so
young,” she says, describing how he had just been
released from prison and had a job lined up to start
the same week, ready to begin a new chapter of his
C ontinued on p age 6