A nurse in Georgia is being praised for helping to save an autistic man's life after he was in danger of being rejected for a heart transplant.

Jonathan Pinkard, a 27-year-old with autism living in Newnan, Georgia, fainted in December while he was at work and was told he needed a heart transplant. He has been struggling to survive since the death of his grandmother in 2012 and his mother's stint with rehab.

After being admitted in December, he was in and out of the hospital for months, often being discharged into the care of a local homeless shelter.

However, when he was admitted to Piedmont Newnan Hospital in December he was assigned to a nurse, Lori Wood, who eventually helped save his life.

In an interview with TODAY Health, Wood said Pinkard “was very sick, but he wasn’t eligible for a transplant because he didn’t have a support system.”

"One of the requirements is that you have someone to care for you afterwards," the 57-year-old ICU nurse said.

Organ donation lists are now incredibly long and to weed out certain applications, hospitals often check whether people have a history of taking medication, listening to doctor's orders and regularly attending visits.

"I had to help him. It was a no-brainer. He would have died without the transplant," Wood said.

After two days of serving as Pinkard's nurse, she asked him whether he would want her to adopt him so that he could get the heart transplant he needed.

Since his surgery in August, Wood has made sure that he takes his 34 pills each day in addition to attending regular checkups.

Pinkard told TODAY Health that he hopes to go back to work in December, but was thankful that Wood took such a big step to help him.

“She treats me like one of her sons. I am truly thank for that. It’s kind of emotional, but at the same time, this has been a life journey for me. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be the person I am today,” he said.

Wood has even worked with Pinkard to improve his credit score and has taught him other life skills as he prepares to go back out on his own.

“When you’re a nurse and you’re wanting to fix and help people, that can be very frustrating if you know a patient needs something and for whatever reason can’t have it or receive it. At some point, God places people in situations in your life, and you have the choice to do something about it. And I guess for me with this situation there was no choice,” she said. “It really wasn’t anything I struggled about. He had to come home with me,” Wood said in a Piedmont Healthcare Facebook page video.

Jonathan-Pinkard

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