INDIANAPOLIS -- A high school football coach who received a life-saving transplant for the holidays is back on the field.
David Priestly waited a year while his damaged heart continued to beat as it was connected to a high-tech rechargeable machine.
MORE | Local coach gets new heart for the holidays
In November, Priestly and his wife received the phone call that would save his life.
Priestly received a heart transplant at IU Health Methodist Hospital.
On Sunday, Priestly met the mother of the man whose heart he now has.
"You kind of go through the whole process of, am I worth of this gift?" Priestly said. "I am pretty sure I wasn't given this second change to do stuff to sit on the couch. Luckily, the avenue I have with coaching high school athletes is that I get to help a lot of them, and I think it just solidifies what I should be doing."
Priestly was back with his team just 30 days after his surgery. Now he says his players are keeping an eye on him to stay health.
Priestly says his cardiologist says the sky is the limit for him, and that he should have a normal quality of life.
