About Us

We are Barkley and Amanda Simmons, high school sweethearts that have been together since before the turn of the century. I thought that would sound cool, but it just makes me feel old! We are trying our best to experience this vast world of ours one vacation day at a time. We’re not the typical couple, so this isn’t your ordinary travel blog, either. We aren’t a life abandon, full-time traveling couple; we both have jobs and travel when we can. However, a lengthy health history and unusual jobs and schedules, gives our journeys a bit of a twist.

So what’s this blog about…life after a change of heart. That would be in a figurative sense and a literal one for Amanda. We went through a change of heart in our finances, putting us on track to become completely debt free. A change of heart with our diet, losing a ton of weight, and now following a mostly plant based lifestyle. After 15 years of battling heart issues, Amanda received a change of heart via a transplant in 2020.

We are now on a mission to see this world and all that makes it unique. If going through the trials of our life has taught us anything, it’s to trust in God and not to take a thing for granted, especially health and your next wake-up. We plan on living life to its fullest to honor the incalculable gift Amanda received.

We reside in small town southwest Texas with our 2 fur babies, Tank and Zoey. We both work, Barkley as a railroad conductor and Amanda as a ministry coordinator/worship leader for our local church. We love to travel, but when we cannot do so, our pastime is filled with cooking and trying new dishes. Entertaining is a joy of ours as well, and we love sharing our plant-based creations with friends, family, and anyone who’s up for a great meal! We both serve our local church in various capacities and are honored to be in the ministry together.

I began writing a blog/journal years ago to keep everyone informed on Amanda’s condition through the many years and surgeries she had. When we took our first heartiversary trip, it only seemed natural to take everyone along with us through the good times as well, not only the bad. Health issues dominated our lives for so many years, and the old blog seemed to remind me of that. So we officially put that site aside to focus on our new life, so this website symbolizes the rebirth of life on the other side of a change of heart.

About Barkley

From a young age, a love of travel was instilled in me. I attribute that love to hearing stories of my mother’s travels through Southeast Asia and Europe in her twenties and thirties. My mother and father both passed down a love of cooking also; I literally grew up in a restaurant kitchen. At a young age, I began helping my mother in her fine dining establishment on the back porch of our home on my father’s cattle ranch.

Setting out on my first big trip at 18, I went with a group of men to build a roof on a church in a hurricane-stricken area of Honduras. After a week of construction, I took out on my own and backpacked solo through El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatán for a few weeks. There is where my absolute love of travel began.

Immediately following that trip, I pursued my passion for food, graduating from Le Cordon Bleu. Eventually becoming a railroad conductor, (for the insurance – which turned out to be a wise decision) I never lost my flare for the kitchen. I also served as a personal chef for over ten years on a large south Texas hunting ranch. When home and not riding the rails of west Texas or cooking up new creations, I work on our home remodel and help with the student ministry at our local church.

Besides traveling and cooking, my true passion is for Amanda. It may sound cliche, but we indeed are best friends; we love spending time with each other and do everything together. She is my first and only love; we were made for each other. If ever opposites attract, that is us; where I am weak, she is strong; where I am dull, she is bright. The strongest woman I know, her faith is inspiring despite what she’s gone through; she is the embodiment of a Proverbs 31 woman. We may not have chosen the path we’ve been dealt with our health issues, but it’s only helped grow us as individuals and as a couple. We wouldn’t be where we are if it weren’t for God, with whom we’ve put our whole trust.

These are mostly my words you will read here. Perhaps I can persuade Amanda to hop on from time to time. Through the journal, you can follow us in a more unfiltered life, maybe a little too raw at times, as Amanda reminds me of sometimes. I’ll try to condense some of our trips and advice when we become more seasoned as we travel and learn from our mistakes. I truly hope you enjoy our adventures in our…life after a change of heart.

About Amanda

As a young girl, I was not raised in the Church, but I was there every chance I got. I took my walk with God very seriously, and when a young man who proclaimed to be an atheist asked me to go on a date, I promptly declined. A series of events occurred, though, that eventually led me back to that young man, who I now have the privilege of calling my husband – over 20 years ago, and a lifetime to go!

We had such specific plans laid out for our lives, but we discovered that God has quite the sense of humor when it comes to our plans vs His. You see, I always wanted to be a mother, but when my heart began failing, that dream was no longer attainable. But through various ministries, I have had the privilege of being a part of countless children’s lives. And I get to do the best part….spoil them and then send them home! Being a fur mama to Tank and Zoey is one of my favorite titles, too!

Now, as an adult, I spend a good portion of my time at the Church, as I am now employed there and get to serve the Lord as both my career and my calling. After being sick for so long, having the ability to keep up with all the demands of ministry is incredible. I pray that I will always be a good steward of my new heart and treasure the gift of life I have been given.

And that is where the Unabandoned Heart name comes in. We want to live life to its fullest, to travel, eat, and enjoy each other and the new lease we have on life. I have never really traveled until recently, and I realize now how much I have been missing out on. This country is so beautiful, and I cannot wait to experience more of the globe and show this new heart around. I always tell Barkley, I don’t care where we go as long as I am with you. I just need to know what the weather will be and what we will do so I know how to (over) pack! I now feel like I can genuinely live rather than just exist.

It is fair to say that Barkley and I have been through our fair share of hardships, but God has also brought us through many victories….all of them together. He has been my rock, my confidant, and my very best friend. We survived a heart transplant during COVID; I think it’s safe to say that we can get through just about anything….together! And through this blog, together, we are capturing the moments that may never have been possible thanks to a change of heart. Here’s to many more victories in our future! We are better together!

Our Health Story

We were married young, at the tender ages of 20 and 18. Our life together got off to a rough start when Barkley was in a wreck, leaving him unable to walk for months, only ten days before our wedding. We recited vows in a hospital bed in his parent’s living room, only to celebrate the wedding with a ceremony nearly six months later. Following that, another debilitating wreck kept him out of his railroad job for over six months. Yes, a bubble suit was briefly considered!

Little did we know, these events were preparing us for what was to come. A couple of years after Barkley’s second wreck, Amanda began to have a headache that never faded and progressed to frequent episodes of syncope or loss of consciousness. After visiting many doctors who all seemed stumped by Amanda’s symptoms, we ended up at an electrophysiologist’s office – think heart electrician. After months of unanswered questions, we found her heart was slowing and even stopping at times. A pacemaker was implanted just after Thanksgiving 2007, followed by multiple ablation procedures to keep the heart from now beating too fast.

For nearly 15 years after that, it was one surgery after another. Fixing one thing would lead to another, and so on we went for years and years. Through those years, we would make countless ER visits for everything from difficulty breathing, to debilitating chest pain (accompanied by years of pain management), to fainting episodes (some ending with head injuries), and even a few air evac trips as well. We quit counting around 50 surgeries and procedures, including many ablations, multiple pacemakers, bypass surgery, stents, and three valve replacements, all by the age of 35. Many of these surgeries seemed to be “the fix,” but we would only be left disappointed months later. For over ten years, we didn’t make it more than a year without major surgery.

Amanda would eventually find herself needing round-the-clock oxygen therapy. At one point, she could barely walk across the living room without becoming winded. It was tasking for her to take a breath, much less do everyday things such as getting dressed and putting make-up on, although if I took as long as she does to get ready, I’d probably get winded as well! All kidding aside, just living was difficult for her, for us. All of this eventually culminated with a heart transplant, her 5th open chest procedure, in the fall of 2020.

As for the diet side of our health, we both grew up on the heavier side of the scale. Amanda lost some weight during years of heart surgeries, but we were both still very unhealthy. One day Barkley decided he was done being fat and started on the track to a healthy life, not a diet but a lifestyle. It didn’t take much convincing for Amanda to follow suit. Barkley devised a custom weight loss plan tailored to each of them through different phases they went through together. Some of these phases were varying degrees of plant-based eating. Upon enjoying these stages more than anticipated, much research was put towards a plant-based lifestyle. We took the plunge and, within one year, had collectively lost over 200 pounds. Amanda’s now petite figure would play a significant role in getting her new heart much more quickly than anticipated. Today we continue to follow a whole food plant-based lifestyle most of the time, which seems to be our best choice for sustainability and Amanda’s heart health.

This is a far condensed version of our health journey but gives you a broader portrait of what we’ve been through. I’m hesitant to call the transplant a cure because so much is traded off for better health; think of it as more of a treatment. An array of medications are needed now to keep rejection at bay, more drugs to counteract the immune suppression medication, and more to balance that. She is far more prone to different types of cancer because of her lowered immune system. The new heart won’t last forever either; she will likely need another heart or 2 in her lifetime.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say what brought us through these trying times. Besides our love and faith in each other, it is our love and faith in the amazing God we serve. Not to say we haven’t questioned why us, why such hardship. Watching what we’ve been through, produce good, even amid heartache, lets us see God working in and through us. That doesn’t come easy to see; I don’t suppose we are wired that way. When you take time to step back and see more than the heartache, more than the turmoil of everyday life, you get to see God at work in it all.