Advocate Spotlight: Turner Prewitt

Above Photo: From left to right, Former Washington Government Relation Director Alex Hamasaki, Washington State Advocacy Committee Chair Turner Prewitt and members of the WASHINGTON State Advocacy Committee, Holly Tucci and Karen Dionne mug at capitol steps at the 2026 State Heart at the Capitol Lobby Day.

A gifted heartbeat became his call to serve
Heart Powered advocate Turner Prewitt turned survival into action 

For nearly a year, Turner Prewitt measured life in small moments – slow steps across the room, quiet prayers beside his bed and the steady presence of the people he loved most. Heart failure had narrowed his world to medical appointments and waiting. Waiting for strength. Waiting for hope. Waiting for a heart.  

More than anything, Turner wanted time. Time to grow older. Time to be present. Time to walk his two daughters down the aisle. 

His heart was failing fast. He could barely leave the house. Eating was difficult. Even short walks left him exhausted. Doctors told him the only option was a transplant – and the hardest part would be the wait.  

“It was hard to imagine a future,” Turner said. “But I kept reminding myself of a favorite scripture verse – Proverbs 17:22, ‘a joyful heart is good medicine.’ I held on to that.” 

Then, one day, the call came.  

An 18-year-old organ donor named Joseph had died. In the midst of an unimaginable loss for one family, another family was given the chance to keep going. Joseph’s heart was a perfect match for Turner. 

Turner speaks of Joseph with deep reverence and gratitude. He knows his second chance was born from tragedy, and he carries that truth with him every day. For Turner’s wife and daughters, the transplant meant more birthdays, more dinners together and more ordinary moments that no longer felt ordinary. 

A second chance with a purpose 

After surgery, Turner made a promise to the heart beating inside his chest. He would care for it. He would honor it. He would not waste the gift he had been given.  

He rebuilt his strength one decision at a time, being active every day by either regularly showing up at the YMCA near his home or taking a walk, choosing healthier foods and learning to trust his body again.  

But Turner knew that survival alone wasn’t enough.  

He wanted to give back to the people and systems that made his recovery possible. He volunteered at the hospital that helped save his life. He stayed connected to the University of Washington, where many of the clinicians who cared for him trained. And he found a volunteer home with the American Heart Association. 

That’s where gratitude turned into action.  

Turner became a Heart Walk leader at his company in Seattle, inviting coworkers to donate and encouraging the company to match gifts. He kept showing up – year after year. Over seven years, those efforts helped raise more than $100,000 to support the American Heart Association’s lifesaving work. 

Retirement didn’t slow Turner down. It gave him more room to serve.  

He joined the American Heart Association’s national grassroots advocacy movement, meeting with lawmakers and sharing his story to support policies that protect health and save lives. In Washington state, Turner advocated raising the tobacco sales age from 18 to 21, CPR training as a high school graduation requirement, cardiac emergency response plans in schools and for the sugar sweetened beverage tax campaign. 

Each effort carried the same message: Everyone deserves a real chance to live longer, healthier lives. 

Today, as an American Heart Association Heart Powered advocate, Turner continues advocating for policies that protect the next generation, including efforts to stop flavored tobacco from hooking young people early in life. He knows policy change takes time – but he also knows change happens because ordinary people decide silence is not an option. 

When Turner looks back, he doesn’t only see illness. He sees the hands that held on. The family who waited with him. The young donor whose heart still moves his life forward. And the power of one story to reach beyond survival and become service.  

That is what it means to be Heart Powered.