TOPSHOT - Cardiovascular surgeon Juan Esteban de Villarreal prepares a donor's heart to be implanted in a patient, at an operating theatre in Puerta de Hierro University Hospital in Majadahonda, near Madrid, . - For a time-critical procedure that is heavily reliant on intensive care, the Covid pandemic and its explosion of desperately-ill patients has thrown up a barrage of complexities which Spain's world leading organ transplant experts have been forced to surmount. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP) / THIS PICTURE MUST BE PUBLISHED UNDATED AT THE REQUEST OF THE HOSPITAL - TO GO WITH AFP STORY "For transplants, Covid complicates the race against time" by MARIE GIFFARD (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images)
An Alaskan father of seven who spent months waiting for a life-saving transplant after missing his surgery has finally received a new heart.
Patrick Holland, who had congestive heart failure, was initially scheduled to receive a heart transplant at Seattle’s University of Washington Medical Center in December, as previously reported by The Shade Room.
But after historic winter weather grounded all flights and left him stranded at home, he was forced to give his heart to somebody else.
During a recent interview with Alaska Public Radio, the 57-year-old said he decided to temporarily move to Seattle that same week so he wouldn’t “miss another chance.”
After nearly four months of waiting, he finally received his transplant on March 30 after a viable heart became available.
“It really didn’t feel real,” his wife Haley told CNN, adding that she “barely had time to tell him that I loved him” before he needed to be intubated for surgery.
She says her husband has been “slowly recovering” ever since. He’s endured some “minor setbacks such as needing a second blood transfusion since his numbers were low.”
“He has ups and downs – minor setbacks such as needing a second blood transfusion since his numbers were low, and his nausea and discomfort ramping up,” she wrote on Monday in a GoFundMe update.
“It wasn’t long before the transplant surgeon called and told me Patrick had lost a significant amount of blood,” she wrote.
She added that doctors were not immediately able to find any “obvious cause” but were keeping an eye on him.
“Thank you for the prayers and positive thoughts,” Haley wrote.
Patrick’s cardiologist told CNN last week that although “there’s always a few bumps in the road with surgeries like this,” he was “generally trending in the right direction.”
Haley said it “feels like a miracle” after Patrick, who had a “massive” heart attack in his 20s, can now enjoy life with his new heart.
“It just makes you cry because this isn’t the heart that he was born with,” she told CNN. “It’s very touching and it’s miraculous that Patrick now has this new heart that he’ll be able to enjoy life with.”
The family expressed gratitude for everyone who helped during “the single hardest time in our family’s history.”
“You have helped us get through the single hardest time in our family’s young 18-year history,” Haley wrote in Monday’s GoFundMe update. “We couldn’t be more grateful.”
Those interested in donating can do so here.
