Simon Sean Keith (born 25 May 1965) is a British/Canadian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player. He is the first athlete to have played professional sports after having undergone a

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common proce ...

. To raise awareness for organ donation, he founded the Simon Keith Foundation in 2011.

Early life and education

Simon Keith was born on 25 May 1965, to David Keith, and Sylvia. The family moved to

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada in 1967. He played his youth soccer for the Victoria Boys Club and later the Lansdowne Evening Optimists. He went to

Mount Douglas Secondary School Mount Douglas Secondary School is a four-year public secondary school located in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada, with around 850 students on roll. The school is part of the Greater Victoria School District (SD61), and is known locally a ...

from 1981 to 1983, where he played on a soccer team with notable teammates Jeff Mallett and John Hughes. He subsequently gained a scholarship to play soccer at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

for the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

soccer team where in 1984 he was diagnosed with

myocarditis Myocarditis, also known as inflammatory cardiomyopathy, is an acquired cardiomyopathy due to inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, chest pain, decreased ability to exercise, and an irregular heartbeat. The ...

, a deterioration of the heart muscle. In 1986, he was the recipient of a heart transplant, the donor being 17 year old Jonathan Edward, from Newport, Wales, who had died while playing soccer. The surgery was done in

Papworth Hospital Royal Papworth Hospital is a specialist heart and lung hospital, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridgeshire, England. The Hospital is run by Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital is a world-leading cardiot ...

outside London by Dr. Mohsin Hakim and Sir Terence English. He then became the first athlete to have played professional sports after having undergone a heart transplant.

Sports career

Following recovery from his surgery, Keith moved to Las Vegas in 1987 to attend the

University of Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of N ...

where he played soccer for the

UNLV Rebels The UNLV Rebels are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision for college football) as a member of the Mountain West Confer ...

with his older brother Adam. Keith won numerous awards at UNLV including the Student-Athlete of the Conference and USA's Most Courageous Athlete. Keith was the number one overall pick in the 1989 professional indoor soccer draft. by the

Cleveland Crunch The Cleveland Crunch are an American professional indoor soccer club located in Cleveland, Ohio competing in as a charter member of the Major League Indoor Soccer (MLIS). The rebranded Crunch returned to indoor play as a member of the MASL 2 i ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). Keith also played professionally for the

Victoria Vistas The Victoria Vistas were a professional soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia that competed in the original Canadian Soccer League. The Vistas joined the CSL for the 1989 season and folded after the 1990 season. Victoria All-star team ...

, the

Winnipeg Fury The Winnipeg Fury were a professional soccer team in Winnipeg, Canada. The team was part of the Canadian Soccer League from 1987 to 1992. They were one of four teams to participate in every season of the CSL. In 1993, they played in the Canadia ...

and

Montreal Supra Montreal Supra was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Canadian Soccer League from 1988 to 1992. History Montreal Supra joined the Canadian Soccer League as an expansion franchise for the league's se ...

of the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

Speaker

At the age of 50 he said:

Within me beats the heart of an incredible young Welsh athlete, whose loss of life enabled me to live mine. Since receiving this gift of life, I have dedicated my time advocating for organ donation awareness and the benefits of living an active lifestyle following an organ transplant.

Keith spoke at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

in 2016 as part of

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

's Organ Summit. Keith has also spoken at the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

and British Parliaments and travels the world telling his story and inspiring others. Keith is now the CEO of the Simon Keith Foundation, founded to increase awareness of organ donor awareness and educate transplant recipients. Keith is one of the longest-living heart transplant recipients and has lived the majority of his life with his second heart. In March 2019, Keith underwent his second heart transplant surgery along with a kidney transplant. Keith belongs to the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame and the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was honored as Canada's Humanitarian of the Year. In 2022, Keith was awarded the prestigious Silver Rebel Award as a member of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Athletic Hall of Fame.

Second heart transplant

In March 2019 he received a second heart transplant and a new

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

in San Diego.

Simon Keith Foundation

To raise awareness for organ donation, he founded the Simon Keith Foundation in 2011. Since its founding The Simon Keith Foundation has raised millions of dollars in support of the families of youths who have undergone organ transplants as well as raise awareness for organ donation. In 2021 The Simon Keith Foundation announced two scholarships. In partnership with the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame, The Simon Keith Foundation will award a scholarship to a graduating high school senior whose life has been affected by organ donation or transplantation. In Canada, The Simon Keith Foundation has partnered with the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Victoria to offer a similar scholarship. Both awards will be endowed and awarded annually in perpetuity. Keith was appointed to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 2022 "for his inspirational advocacy of organ donation and for his dedicated support for transplant recipients."

Personal and family

Keith is married to Kelly and they have three children.Southern Nevada, (Las Vegas) Sports Hall of Fame
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References

External links

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Las Vegas Sun article

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, Simon 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Lewes English men's footballers English emigrants to Canada Soccer players from Victoria, British Columbia Canadian men's soccer players Men's association football forwards University of Victoria alumni UNLV Rebels men's soccer players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Victoria Vistas players Montreal Supra players Winnipeg Fury players Cleveland Crunch (original MISL) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada English expatriate men's footballers Kidney transplant recipients Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Members of the Order of Canada