Two Black NY heart failure survivors marry after meeting on Valentine’s Day as patients in ICU
Christine and Kendell Paul were married on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, after meeting as patients in a New York intensive care unit.
When Christine Paul’s physician asked her to check in on Kendell Paul, a fellow patient at the North Shore University Hospital’s ICU, three years ago on Valentine’s Day, it wasn’t an unusual request.
Christine, now 44, who had received a heart transplant the year prior, had been admitted following complications from pneumonia. Meanwhile, after unexpectedly experiencing congestive heart failure, Kendell, now 41, had just received a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), an implant to assist the heart with pumping blood. Before Christine’s transplant, her heart health journey also included an LVAD. So, she told theGrio it wasn’t a rare occurrence for physicians to have her speak with new LVAD patients and offer advice and support.
However, unlike all of the other times she’d met new LVAD recipients, when she met Kendell, though she didn’t know it at the time, she had just met her husband.
As she was discharged, she recalled stopping in on him one more time to say, “Give me a call when you can. Maybe when you’re outside, we could meet up.”
Christine and Kendell were married on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, during an intimate celebration at a restaurant in Flushing after embarking on a unique, heartful love story.
“Don’t give up on love,” Christine says on the other side of her happy ending.
She explained before she met Kendell, she was ready to throw in the towel. Bad luck in love combined with a brand new heart and a new lease on life, the mother of two said, “I don’t think I’m gonna give this heart to anyone.”
“I came to a point where I said, ‘Christine, you’re the only one that’s going to love your heart and protect your heart. Don’t let anyone in.’”
She added, “Then we met each other, and it was like, we couldn’t wait to give each other love.”
Even though the newlyweds clearly hit it off, Christine admits it wasn’t exactly “love at first sight.” She was in a hospital gown accessorized by an IV bag on wheels, and Kendell, she said, was lying in bed recovering from heart failure. Not to mention, she was in a relationship at the time.
“Even though it wasn’t ‘love at first sight,’ there was something definitely different,” said Christine, recalling how comfortable she felt in his presence.
“That’s something you get when you’re face to face with someone who’s gone through the same surgery and is about to live a life similar to you,” she said.
Sparks flew for real when they met up for dinner at a Jamaican restaurant in Queens sometime after.
“We met up, we had a beautiful dinner,” Christine said. “And we haven’t separated since.”
Both were newly single and relieved to be in the company of someone who understood their situation. Developing a heart condition as a young adult or younger can be a gut punch emotionally. It’s the type of health problem expected of seniors or someone who didn’t take very good care of themselves. Instead, they can strike when you least expect it and even be genetic, as in the case of both Christine and Kendell.
Christine first experienced heart failure in the 2010s before receiving her LVAD and then eventually her heart transplant. Kendell, who had worked as a plumber at the time, started experiencing difficulty breathing when going up and down stairs. He initially suspected he may have had COVID until he later learned his heart was actually failing.
“[In high school] he was a jock. He was an athlete. He had all the girls and was voted class flirt. So, for him to hear congestive heart failure was shocking,” Christine explained.
Learning that some intervention could leave you with prominent visible surgery scars down the center of your chest or back or with bulky implants you can’t hide can cause a lot of folks to put off crucial procedures.
She noted how “as women, we’re already self-conscious about what we look like. Now we have this machine coming out of our body.”
Kendell, grappling with his feelings around developing heart failure, at first attempted to forgo his LVAD. But after he suffered a seizure, he proceeded with his doctor’s recommendation.
In addition to their heart health journeys, the two have an enormous amount in common. Upon meeting, they discovered they were not only both parents to two sons, but each has a son named “Noah.” They both work in health care: Christine for LiveOnNY, advocating for and educating on transplants, and Kendell has since dived into a career as a patient care tech. They also both have Trinidadian heritage and December birthdays.
Since news of their love story has spread, there’s been a People magazine profile and an appearance on the “Tamron Hall Show,” the newlyweds’ inbox has been flooded. Christine said she’s been receiving everything from former nurses reaching out to congratulate her to creative opportunities.
Admittedly, it’s been a whirlwind for the couple — one Christine hopes is ultimately inspiring, especially for the Black community. There is much to gain from their story when heart disease is the number one killer of Americans across the board, and Black Americans remain among one of the highest demographics. Black women are also at an increased risk, and undiagnosed heart conditions continue to be among the top reasons driving the Black maternal health crisis.
While they weigh options of what to do next with their story, they intend to keep living their life and supporting each other through their individual health journeys. They both have long roads ahead of them. Christine has upcoming appointments, and Kendell may need a heart transplant in the future. But in the meantime, they are happy to be doing it all alongside someone who understands.
“I have to say, I think what makes this relationship so beautiful, I don’t think we have had a real first fight yet,” she noted with a smile in her voice. “Yeah, we disagree on things, but when you go through something so life-changing, you learn how to deal with every scenario differently.”
Christine said they intend to spend the anniversary of their meet-cute by seeing “Captin America” with their sons before a romantic salsa dancing date in the evening.
While she noted holidays for them are definitely “heightened,” she said, “It sounds cliche, but we cherish every day.”
It’s ironic that when a couple gets married, they are often asked if they will accept their spouse “in sickness and in health.” In the case of the Pauls, they met in sickness and, as Christine put it, “are now enjoying the health and the richer!”
When it comes to love, she urges others to “take that chance.”
“Never give up and love wholeheartedly, love every part of your person,” she said.
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