Twenty years ago, Lake Zurich native Bill Coon made history by being only the eighth infant in the country, and the fourth in the Midwest, to undergo a heart transplant.

In the middle of what his mother, Ann Coon, calls a "vibrant life," her son is suddenly in need of another heart transplant and a kidney transplant. Now, he and his family wait around the clock and hope for the organ donations that will again save his life.

"Waiting is terrible and we get anxious," Ann Coon said. "We are truly a family in crisis. Life, as we know it, is falling apart."

Bill Coon became sick in the past year while attending Columbia College Chicago, where he double majored in radio broadcasting and marketing. He managed to finish the spring 2009 semester, but entered the hospital in June when doctors discovered he had heart failure.

"He had 90 percent blockage of his arteries, but finished 19 credit hours and worked 22 hours a week at his internship," his mother said. "Bill's done fabulous his whole life. He is unbelievably active."

The artery blockage came as a total shock to the Coon family, who saw Bill as a very healthy young man. The kidney failure was the result of a lifetime of taking heart medication, his mother said.

On Aug. 25, he was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, then was released from the Intensive Care Unit and moved to another floor this week.

Despite the anxiety involved in the waiting, Bill Coon is keeping his spirits up, his mother said.

His need for another transplant has inspired his family and friends to get involved with organ donation causes.

His 21-year-old sister Carissa, a senior at Eastern Illinois University, said she knows that somebody who signs up today to donate their organs probably won't save her brother, but she wants to help save a family from the pain her family has to endure.

She said she is in the early stages of planning organ donation events at her university and plans to start a campaign in October.

Carissa Coon said she and her brother have always been close, but have become much closer since his first hospitalization in June. She said she got involved in her brother's care this summer by cooking all his meals. Bill Coon has been put on a low sodium diet, and his sister made his food her responsibility by cooking him dinner and dessert every day.

Family members say friends, neighbors and the entire Lake Zurich community have reached out to Bill and his family as they wait for the transplants.

Childhood friend Jennifer Schuman, who has known Bill Coon since they were in the sixth grade, said he has been a great inspiration to her and the whole town. Through all his hardships, he still has a great sense of humor and remains sincere, she said.

"He is so brave," Schuman said. "You ask anybody who knows Bill, they will say he is the funniest person they know. He is such an inspiration."