East Grand Forks Police Detective in need of heart transplant

Sergeant Tony Hart was diagnosed with heart disease in 2008 and is receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester

EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. (KVRR) – East Grand Forks Police Det. Tony Hart has been in the line of duty for quite some time, but for the last few weeks, he’s been in arguably the biggest fight of his life.

“Earlier this fall, Tony started to have some health issues,” East Grand Forks Police Chief Michael Hedlund said. “He wasn’t exactly sure what they were, he just didn’t feel right and he wound up going into the doctor.”

The 12 year veteran was diagnosed with heart disease back in 2008 and after being treated then, got along fine until this past fall, when problems arose.

“They did a variety of tests,” Hedlund said. “Ultimately, they took his gallbladder out and instead of improving, this actually kind of went down.”

In mid December, Hart’s organs started to fail, at which point he was air-transported to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester where’s he’s been since, receiving treatment and taking things one day a time.

“Doing better as time has gone on there but it has reached the point there where he is going to need a heart transplant,” Hedlund said.

For that to happen, hart has to meet the criteria for it, which includes being stable … As of this past weekend, he’s making progress and getting stronger according to a journal post from his wife Katie. But in the meantime, the medical bills continue to pile up and East Grand Forks PD is calling on the community to help. You can donate by clicking here or drop it off at the police department.

Frandsen Bank in East Grand Forks has an account set up for him and people can drop off donations.