First "Heart-aversary"

A year ago June 8, I received a heart transplant. Not exactly breaking news, right?

Despite some formidable setbacks both expected and unexpected, I survived the first year.  Thrived might be a better word. In my age group, the first year survival rate can range up to 80 per cent.  

Sounds great, except for the 20 out of 100 who don't see their first "heart-aversary."

From the edge of a crypt in early 2010, through 38 months with a left ventricular assist device to a walking, talking, fly fishing 70 year old. 

I am most fortunate.  

Not all of those in need of a new heart get one.  First, there are about 2,000 heart transplants a year nationwide. Second, the donor ranks are thin. Marking "donor" on your driver's license doesn't mean your heart, liver, or kidneys--for example--will be taken if you die in a car accident.

Anecdotally, as I renewed my driver's license last week, I overheard six people in line with me say they did not want to be listed as donors. 

My wife and I chose "donor." 

So in my anecdote, 75 per cent of my admittedly skewed sample said no to being a donor. It was not a particularly busy time at the licensing facility, but if the situation I encountered is in any way  representative, and we'll never know if it is from a one sample  experience, organ donation is not at the top of the "to do" list of things we can control. 

That's a shame.  Donating an organ is a gift of life for recipients.

I am reliably informed that only about one in one hundred deaths occur under hospital conditions that are a necessary precursor to organ donation and eventual transplant.  

The donor organs simply are not collected at the scene of a vehicle crash, shooting, stabbing, drowning, or a victim of smoke inhalation. Hospital life support is required. 

The point is that without designated donors there would be no transplants, no lives saved, no hope. None. Period. Game over.

Meanwhile, my friend with the fractured LVAD driveline, has been moved from Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis to Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Without a new heart, it is likely he won't make it. 

There is hope at Cedars Sinai, the largest and most technically advanced heart transplant center in the country, doing 120 heart transplants per year and being able to deal with issues with anti-bodies and rare blood types. His doctors believe the move is necessary to save his life. 

Godspeed, friend.