Rod Carew doing “great” after heart and kidney transplant

Good news for adorable human being and mad-hits-haver Rod Carew: According to a release from the American Heart Association, the Twins-great is doing great after undergoing heart and kidney transplant surgery a little over a month ago.

Doctors are reportedly thrilled with Sir Rodney’s progress in recovery. There have been no signs that his body is rejecting the new organs.

The recovery progress, while going well, hasn’t been easy, however. After the grueling 13-hour surgery on December 16th, the Hall of Famer spent ten days in intensive care, and remained in the hospital up until a few days ago. He’s now in a rehabilitation center, but could finally go home as early as this weekend.

What that recovery time-table probably means for Twins fans is that Carew won’t be at Spring Training this year. He does have his sights on attending the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies next July, however.

And here’s a pretty cool little tidbit: Carew—who wore number 29, and hence, named his campaign to raise awareness about heart health “Heart of 29”—found out that the man who donated his heart and kidney to him was 29 years old. “When the surgeon told me the donor’s age, I looked at him and thought, `Are you serious?!’” Rod’s wife, Rhonda, said. “That was so fascinating to me. It was another big moment. I believe there are no such thing as coincidences.”

Of course, the surgeries were needed after Carew suffered a massive heart attack in September of 2015.

You can read the AHA’s entire release here.