Two families moved by heart transplant for city resident Corpus Christi Caller-Times, July 17, 2007 CORPUS CHRISTI -- The bump was so small, Bill Farmer didn't worry -- he thought it probably was from a mosquito. But it turned out that Farmer, then 37, had been bitten by a deer tick, a parasite the size of a pin point or sesame seed, while rock climbing in Idaho. Farmer, in good health most of his life, contracted Lyme disease and thus began two decades of illness that included kidney stones, Bell's palsy -- a condition that weakens or paralyzes facial muscles -- and, finally, congestive heart failure. Farmer moved his family to Corpus Christi to be with his oldest daughter. The former teacher and general contractor responded well to the climate change and exercise, but he needed a new heart. Scott Allen Bickel was returning home after a weekend trip to visit a friend in Illinois -- a 900-mile drive. Just 45 minutes from his Huntsville home, he fell asleep at the wheel at the Highway 59 curve. His red Ford Mustang left the road and flipped four times. The 23-year-old suffered massive head injuries and died the next day, Oct. 28, 1997 -- two years after Farmer began his wait on the organ donor list. Within hours, Farmer received his heart. Following two years of blood tests, biopsies and quarterly trips to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Farmer received the news that a heart was available at 8 p.m. Oct. 28. Farmer and his wife, Sarah, made the drive to Galveston -- the closest hospital approved to perform transplants.