A former Suffolk police officer and retail manager is hoping for a “change of heart” after having been in the hospital for more than two months.

Tony Willis, now a Maryland resident, has lived in Johns Hopkins Hospital for the last two months. He recently was moved to the intensive care unit and is near the top of the list for a heart transplant. His family is hoping to bring attention to the cause of organ donation through his story.

“Our goal is to make people aware of the need for organ donation,” said his wife, Sherry Willis. “You can help 51 people with donation. That’s a lot of people from just one body. It’s just astounding, but sometimes people never get the call for a suitable donor.”

Willis, now 48, had his first heart attack in 1999. In 2004, he received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and around the same time married Sherry and created their blended family of three children.

Since then, he has struggled with constant fluid build-up around his heart and multiple ablation procedures, which are meant to correct heart arrhythmias. In 2013, his request to be added to the heart transplant list was denied by a medical committee because of his Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

However, just two months ago, the doctors reconsidered and put Willis on the transplant list.

“We’re just waiting for an appropriate match,” Sherry Willis said. “He is in congestive heart failure.”

Willis has a heart pump that runs on batteries outside the body, but even that is not enough to keep his heart functioning anymore.

“He is a very positive person,” Willis said. “It astounds me how positive he is.”

She said nurses and personnel from other units have come to visit her husband in the ICU just to talk to him.

“It’s amazing that they take their time to come and see him,” she said. “He’s a man of faith, so that’s where he gets his strength from.”

He’s also hoping to be able to celebrate the arrival of his first grandchild soon.

Willis said the family is committed to raising awareness about organ donation because there is such a shortage.

Three people in Virginia alone die waiting for an organ every week. In the United States, more than 113,000 people are awaiting a transplant and an average of 18 people per day die while waiting for an organ.

More than 50 people can be helped through the donation of seven to nine organs as well as skin, bones, heart valves, tendons, veins and corneas.

The family is seeking donations to help pay for Willis’ medical costs, which will total $25,000 a year just for medication after the transplant, which could cost $1 to $2 million.

“Insurance covers a lot of that, but it is a very big expense,” she said.

For more information or to learn how to donate, visit www.tonyschangeofheart.info. To sign up for organ donation in Virginia, visit www.donatelifevirginia.org.