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SANDY — Shaun Coon said he knew he had friends, but didn’t know how strong that friendship was until about 10 years ago.
Coon and his business partner, Kyle Colling, had just started Coonyz Custom Choppers, a custom motorcycle shop in Sandy, when Coon got sick.
“I was so sick I felt I was out of shape,” he said.
Coon ended up in the hospital, in surgery, and then in a coma for two months. When he woke up, he had a BIVAD heart pump sitting on his chest keeping his blood circulating.
Coon’s heart was failing and he needed a transplant.
“There was one point where they called all his friends and family and said, ‘look we don’t think he’s going to make it another night.’ We all went up there, kind of said our goodbyes,” Collings said.
Family and friends did what they could to keep Coon’s business running.
“We had friends that went in and worked shifts for him,” said friend Darren Lewis.
“If he needed something painted, I painted a couple things,” said Dan Worth, a local motorcycle painter who is technically a business competitor.
Lewis and others organized a motorcycle rally, Coonyz Cause, to raise money for Coon and his family.
Three hundred riders raised more than $10,000 and, midway through the event, stopped outside LDS Hospital to visit Coon.
“It was crazy. Super emotional to see all these people,” Lewis said. “Some of them I knew, but some of them I didn’t even know.”
“I think we all were emotional,” Lewis continued. “We didn’t know if we were going to have our buddy to stay with us much longer. We didn’t know what was going to happen.”
As the motorcycles drove away and Coon was being wheeled back to his room, he made a decision.
“I knew that I had to do it again and I kind of made a vow to myself that I would keep doing it,” he said. “It was just something I felt in my heart, my new heart, I absolutely had to do it.”
The year after Coon received a heart transplant, and every year after that, he sponsored a “Ride for Life” to benefit other transplant patients. Now the funds go to Intermountain Donor Services.
“You have your friends and then you have your brothers,” Lewis said. “Shaun gained a whole group of other brothers with that ride.”
“You kind of don’t know what you’re up against,” Coon says. “You think you’re at it by yourself but you get these people who are, ‘no, we’re going to help.’”
The Gift of Life Ride for Transplants will be held Saturday, June 20. Registration starts at 10 a.m. at Coonyz Custom Chopperz at 548 W. 9400 South in Sandy. The ride leaves at noon.
KSL-TV
