Our Story
Shawn was born with every odd stacked against him.
Tricuspid Atresia and a single coronary artery made survival uncertain from the start, and even after multiple open-heart surgeries, doctors told his parents that his heart wouldn’t last long. But he kept proving them wrong — again and again.
He built a life no one expected him to have. He became a boat captain, started businesses, got married, and had two kids. And through it all, even as his heart struggled, Shawn moved through life with the quiet toughness everyone knows him for. If you asked how he felt, he’d smile and say, “I’m fine.” He never wanted to look like a patient, never wanted pity, always just wanted to find a way forward.
By 2021, that strength was still there, but his body couldn’t keep pace. The fatigue hit harder. And we were running out of short-term fixes.
For three years, we lived in the waiting. Hospital visits. Insurance battles. Daily conversations about fear, timing, and whether he’d see the kids grow up. We watched him get weaker, skinnier, bluer. Every day felt like it could be our last day with him.
In May 2025, Shawn was listed for a heart transplant and admitted to the hospital — too sick to wait at home. On June 2nd, the call came. A perfect heart was available. And on June 3rd, after a twelve-hour surgery, Shawn began his second round.
When the surgeon came out afterward, we asked how bad his old heart really was.
He said, “This isn’t just a new heart for Shawn. It’s a new life.”
Those words changed everything. Because they were true, not just for Shawn, but for all of us.
This journey taught our family what real fight looks like. It showed us the brutal and beautiful truth of survival: it’s not neat, it’s not easy, and it doesn’t always come with a guaranteed ending. It’s messy, it’s terrifying, and it’s hard. But it’s also proof that some people keep going anyway. People who weren’t supposed to make it, but did.
That’s where RNDII was born.
“Round Two” is for survivors. Anyone who’s lived through illness, injury, heartbreak, or loss and somehow found a way to keep going. It’s not just for transplant recipients; it’s for anyone who has ever looked at life and said, “I’m not done.”
We believe in wearing resilience out loud.
We believe in telling the stories that remind people they’re not alone.
And we believe the best way to honor survival is to give someone else the strength to keep fighting.
