Countdowns were heard around the world last Thursday night, as we shut the book on 2015 and said hello to 2016. One celebration was a bit different; it was held at UNC Hospital. That’s where 13-year-old Albert Reginald Jeffries IV, better known as Alj (pronounced “Al Jay”), welcomed in 2016.

Looking at Alj – if he were not hooked up to machines monitoring his vital signs – you would not know he’s been battling heart disease since he was four months old.

“He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at four months old,” says his mother, Tina Turner. “The hospital is an all-too-familiar place for us.”

Dilated cardiomyopathy is described by the American Heart Association as a condition where the heart’s left ventricle, the main pumping chamber, becomes enlarged.

Team Alj painted on the doors outside Alj's room. Photo via Tina Turner.

Team Alj painted on the doors outside Alj’s room. Photo via Tina Turner.

Turner says Alj has been in and out of the hospital throughout his lifetime, including a seven-month stretch immediately following his diagnosis.

Turner says over the years, Alj was able to go to school and do some other things every other child was doing. But he always had to be cautious.

“To even try to ride a bike or anything,” she says, “climb stairs is a challenge, walking home from school is a challenge. I just want him to be able to just do normal things as a normal kid should do.

“And maybe there’s time for him actually to be a kid.”

Turner says Alj was admitted to the hospital for heart failure in 2014, before being discharged with medication to help keep his heart pumping. But now he has been back at UNC for more than 30 days consecutively.

“The heart just can’t sustain any longer,” she says. “They put him on a heart-failure drug, which is now a continuous thing for him.”

Turner adds Alj has also now been placed at the top of the waiting list for a heart transplant saying, “We’re hoping for a heart.”

Turner says she is inspired every day by how Alj is handling his situation. And she says he is able to draw his strength through the outpouring of love and hope from the community – in most cases strangers who happen to see his story through Facebook shares.

“We’ve gotten so many angels through Facebook who have just come through for him, sent him gifts,” she says. “We’ve had strangers from all over sending him teddy bears and cards and games. It’s just been amazing.”

Some of those strangers sending positive thoughts toward Alj are not as anonymous as most others. Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera sent Alj a letter and a care package with autographed Panthers memorabilia. The Carolina Hurricanes also paid Alj a visit in the hospital.

Alj with his Carolina Panthers gear. Photo via Tina Turner.

Alj with his Carolina Panthers gear. Photo via Tina Turner.

Turner says during those moments of excitement it’s tempting to forget about Alj’s condition. But the test results serve as a constant reminder.

Turner says, through all of this, Alj has kept smiling and his spirits remain high. She says the moments of sadness creep in when he realizes that for him to live a normal life he needs a new heart. And that heart will have to come from someone else.

“That’s the thing that’s the hardest thing for him to grasp,” she says. “Someone else is going to have to die to let him survive. And he doesn’t really want that to happen.

“He’s a very sympathetic, empathetic, passionate little boy. And he really doesn’t want anybody else to have to suffer and die for his life.”

Turner says she is taking this opportunity to push for those who are not organ donors to sign up.

“Life and death happens. That’s just the realization of things,” she says. “I just want people to understand that through organ donation, them signing up to be an organ donor, they can really help someone else live.

“And their spirit can live on through that person.”

Turner is a nursing technician at N.C. Memorial Hospital. She says her co-workers have been “absolutely wonderful” in their care for her son and through donation of additional leave that they have to allow her to stay with Alj.

“Hey, you know, if we have to spend Valentine’s Day here, if we have to spend Memorial Day here, we’re going to be here until my son gets his heart,” she says. “And we’re ok with that. I just want to make sure that he is going to be a happy, healthy young man that gets to start his life new.”

You can keep up with Alj’s story and donate to help his family with the cost of the treatment through his Facebook and gofundme pages.