Sitting across from Simon Keith on a crisp Friday morning in Fairfield, you’re met with a youthful, vibrant man counting the minutes to his next tee time. His smile is constant, and even on a chilly day, warmth radiates through his golf ensemble. It’s almost impossible to believe that, over nearly 40 years, he has endured more than 100 surgeries, received 15 pacemakers and survived two heart transplants.
In 1986, at age 21, Keith — a rising soccer star and elite athlete — underwent his first heart transplant. Determined to return to the soccer pitch, he made his comeback playing for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and was drafted into the Major Indoor Soccer League just three years after surgery. But becoming the first athlete in the world to play a professional sport after a heart transplant was only the beginning of his story.
“After 40 years of living with a transplant, I’ve learned that getting a new organ isn’t the end of the story — it’s the beginning of a lifelong journey,” says Keith.
Keith’s own experience not only changed his life, but changed his life’s work. In 2011, he created The Simon Keith Foundation, focused on two missions: to support youth who have received organ transplants in living full, active lives, and to raise awareness about the importance of organ-donor registration.
For transplant recipients, an organ transplant is not just a new lease on life; it’s a different one altogether, filled with daily immunosuppressants, follow-up surgeries and emotional and financial hurdles that persist long after the hospital stay. “When a child is diagnosed, communities rally, fundraisers are held and there’s a lot of love and support. But once the surgery is over, the support often fades,” says Keith. “That’s where we come in.”
Over time, in an effort to increase the foundation’s impact, Keith leaned on key partnerships, including with the Engelstad Foundation in Las Vegas, where he now lives, as well as a lifelong friend who knows him best.
“Simon and I are classic childhood friends,” says Jeff Mallett, a Victoria-born entrepreneur, investor, former president and COO of Yahoo! and current co-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team and co-owner of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. “We first met as young teens on the soccer fields of Mount Doug High School in Victoria.”
After high school, both friends pursued elite-level soccer — Mallett in the U.S., Keith in England. “Even when our paths diverged geographically, we stayed connected,” says Mallett.
Their shared efforts have helped build an enduring foundation, with the long-term goal of establishing an endowment to support every transplant child in North America who wants to get active and healthy again.
While the foundation has raised millions of dollars through various events, Keith says he’s always wanted to bring it home to Victoria. “This is where I grew up, the community that made me. It feels right.”
On August 23, the Simon Keith Foundation will host its first major event in Victoria, the Heart of Gold Gala & Concert
— a full-circle moment for the two friends and the city that shaped them. Mallett refers to it as “the trifecta” — a childhood friendship, a hometown legacy and a cause that changes lives.
“Victoria may be small, but it punches far above its weight in generosity and community leadership,” Mallett says. “That’s why I’ve always been proud to call it home — and why we believe this community will rally behind the foundation.”
For more info on the Heart of Gold Gala & Concert, visit thesimonkeithfoundation.com.
