ROCHESTER, N.Y. — February is American Heart Month. It's a time to raise awareness about the number one cause of death across the U.S. of both men's and women's heart disease.

Two survivors share a heartfelt story about their health, journey and mission behind creating a safe harbor for millions of others. 

What You Need To Know

  • Heart Awareness Month is observed in February in the United States. It is a time to raise awareness about heart disease, the leading cause of death in the country, and encourage people to take steps to improve their cardiovascular health

  • According to the U.S. Census Bureau, heart disease has long been the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming nearly 700,000 lives a year. Nearly half of all American adults have at least one major risk factor for cardiovascular disease

  • In celebration of American Heart Month, Harbor House collaborates during February with the Rochester office of the American Heart Association for its first "Take Heart!" event

“I had a heart attack at home,” Thomas Arcara said. “I was rushed to the hospital and I remember laying there in that room and the doctors looked at me and say, 'Guess you’re not going to smoke cigarettes anymore.'” 

Harbor House founding members Thomas Arcara and Gary Acker never thought they would see another day.

“I was at Strong for a short period of time, and they didn't give me much of a chance,” Acker said. “So they sent me to the Cleveland Clinic where eventually I was accepted for getting a heart transplant.”

But thanks to their organ donors and what they call pure "luck," they are able to share their story today. 

“I never would have saw my kids get married,” Arcara said. “Never when I saw my grandkids, never when I saw my 15-year-old grandson win sectionals in soccer. So it's pretty emotional.”

Through both Arcara and Acker’s journey, they found the real challenge was not only their health condition but finding support for their caregivers.

“What my wife had gone through when we went to the Cleveland Clinic for my transplant and no place to stay really,” Acker said.

“I was local. I had all my family here in town,” Arcara said. “But then all of a sudden we met some of the other people going through transplants and they weren't from this part of town. So we decided we are going to be their local family.”

Providing a home away from home, the mission of Harbor House of Rochester is to provide temporary lodging for families of adult critical care patients who live outside the Rochester area and are receiving care at its surrounding hospitals.

“It’s a safe haven,” Acker said. “We've had people stay at the house from Egypt, China and other places around the world while their loved one was in the hospital. The accident on the thruway, the family going to Niagara Falls. There were like 15 or 20 of them, the number of those who died in Mexico. And we put as many of those up in the house as we were able to during that period of time because they had loved ones in hospital.”

In celebration of American Heart Month, Harbor House collaborates during February with the Rochester office of the American Heart Association for its first "Take Heart!" event. They invite survivors to bring awareness about cardiovascular disease and medical professionals like the head of URMC’s Heart Failure and Transplant Program Dr. Leway Chen. 

“Right now, we're just on the edge of being able to identify the genes that are wrong,” Chen said. “They inject a virus. It has the gene attached. The gene goes into the heart, starts to deploy the missing protein and then improves the walls of the heart.”

Its team continues to shine a light in 2025 on best practices for preventing the leading cause of death across the globe, giving all their heart to protect someone else’s. 

“We just got to start moving forward no matter what,” Arcara said. “As we got to get healthier, we got to live better, we got to do everything better.”

Harbor House of Rochester is preparing for multiple future events such as its Super Bowl squares fundraiser and Healing Hearts concerts at Artisan Works. For more information on event details or housing, you can visit here.