Just a couple of years ago, Arthur Plowden’s heart was in such bad shape that he couldn’t take more than four steps before being short of breath. Last Thursday, he was playing basketball and shooting hoops with Stony Brook’s men’s basketball team.

“It felt wonderful, the guys kept me moving,” Plowden, 44, said. “It felt great, I feel back to life again.”

Plowden, from Amityville, has suffered from heart problems since he was a child. Two years ago, his heart’s health began to fail.

After medication and therapy failed to help Plowden, his physician, Dr. Hal Skopicki, the director of Stony Brook University Medical Center’s Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Program, and Dr. Allison McLarty, the cardiothoracic surgeon who operated on Plowden, deemed him a candidate for a left ventricle assist device, or LVAD.

McLarty operated on Plowden and implanted the device, called a HeartMate II. Plowden was the first patient from the Stony Brook Heart Institute to receive an LVAD.

“When we first saw him, he was in what we call class four heart failure, which is the most severe, debilitated form. Skopicki said. “His heart muscle had reduced to about 20 percent of normal; he couldn’t walk 10, 20 feet without getting short of breath.”

The LVAD served as a bridge as Plowden waited for a heart transplant. The device, according to Dr. Skopicki, takes blood that has been oxygenated from the heart and helps put it into the body’s circulation, which helped Plowden body to recover.

“People can actually use this device to sustain themselves for years,” Skopicki said. “Having said that, the goal in young people like Arthur is to try and get them through to a transplantation, offering him a chance at a near-normal life.”

After receiving a heart transplant on July 3 earlier this year, Plowden wanted to delve back into one of his passions: playing basketball.

When Stony Brook men’s basketball head coach Steve Pikiell heard about Plowden’s desire to get back on the court, he saw an opportunity to grant his wish as well as inspire his team.

“I read about when he said he wanted to get back to playing basketball again after he got the transplant, and I was inspired by that,” Pikiell said. “It’s a good story for the guys, who are going to be facing some adversity in the upcoming months.”

Running around and looking to be in good shape, Plowden dribbled around and played horse with members of the team.

Afterward, he was given a basketball signed by all the players, as well as two season tickets for the Seawolves’ upcoming season.

“I thought he was a great guy, he had a lot of enthusiasm and spirit,” said senior guard Leonard Hayes. “He was out there making shots, and it was fun going out there and playing with him.”

Since Plowden’s operation, the Stony Brook Heart Institute, which is the only such program on Long Island, has helped 17 patients receive LVAD devices, according to Dr. Skopicki.

“We anticipate newer devices, smaller devices, being able to manage these patients indefinitely, and perhaps even making heart transplantation unnecessary.” Skopicki said. “The devices will be self-contained within the body, and be small enough to be manageable to allow a near-normal life.”

With his new heart, Plowden feels that the sky is the limit for him.

“Stony Brook brought me back, the quality of my life is past a 10,” Plowden said. “It’s like I hit the medical lottery. I feel like a million bucks, I’m going to work on getting my grandsons, nephews ready for college, and inspire others.”

The basketball team will open up their season Friday, Nov. 9 at Marist, before coming home the following Sunday to take on Mount Ida. Practices just started last week, for the team.