Lincoln - A Lincoln man thought he was going to die, so did his doctors.

As Carolyn Callahan tells us, thanks to a doctor in Boston and experimental surgery, he's alive to tell the story.

He's known as captain.

"Maybe two years to get all my strength back, built the way it should be, ya know."

Lawrence Hesseltine hit a bit of rocky waters.

"I just wanted to die. I felt so miserable, I didn't want to live."

He hadn't been feeling well for a few months.


"He wasn't able to breath, it just kept getting worse and wore and worse and no one was able to help him."

Turns out, he had a leaky heart valve. Doctors in Bangor didn't give him much hope. So he and his family took a voyage to Boston.

"They sent a jet to pick him up and flew him right out to Brigham and Women's Hospital."

He spent weeks in the hospital. His family with him the entire time.

"It's just how our family does it."

"I'd never made it through if it wasn't for God and my wife and kids. You know, they all stuck right by my side."

He also wouldn't have made it without a doctor in Boston who told him there was a surgery that might help.

"I couldn't wait for that, boy I couldn't wait for that. I just wanted to do it and get it over with."

The exact surgery had never been done before in the United States, but it worked.

"I woke up and I could breath good . . . the day after they took my oxygen off and I haven't had it since!"

He still has to take things slower than he's used to.

"I have to use my hover round, or whatever they call that thing. I like that thing though, pretty good."

And he's tipping his hat to the medical staff.

"Boy, they've got nice people out there. Ain't they nice people there, the nurses and all the doctors."

For his family, this is the man they've wanted to see.

"He's living. He's driving his boat. He's got his life back."

For the captain, he's ready to set sail.

Hesseltine and his family have decided to not give out Christmas gifts this year, instead they'll collect money and donate it to Brigham and Women's Hospital.

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