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S7 E7 - Thriving After Liver Transplant, Tom Nyeholt
Tom Nyeholt, Craftsman at Tom’s Garage, grew up in El Monte, CA. He is the youngest of 5 children, his father worked two jobs, and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. Growing up, he graduated from El Monte High School. After graduating from high school and with the family unable to pay for college, he joined the United States Air Force at age 20. There he trained to be a military firefighter. For his first assignment, the USAF sent him to Alaska for a year before being reassigned to Travis Air Force Base near Napa California.
At age 21 his father passed away from cancer in October 1987, in February of 1988 Tom got seriously ill, and at 22, Tom had to have a Liver Transplant on March 8, 1988. Only being the second Liver Transplant performed at UCSF he spent 6 months in the hospital before being released. In August 1988, he was medically discharged from the Air Force and a year later in 1989 Tom’s disability rating was decreased from 100% to 20% which lowered his pay to $240 a month.
Tom then had to decide to legally take on the Veterans Administration to get his 100% rating back. Tom and his wife Gina married in 1997 and finally, after a hard-fought battle, the decision came in to reinstate his 100% disability rating in 1998.
Tom and Gina now have three children and live in Glendora CA. Tom is a stay-at-home dad while his wife is a guidance counselor at Corona Del Mar High School. For the last 25 years, he has been raising his kids and woodworking at home taking it one day at a time.
