[leprechaun9]

My wife's family has been intimately involved in the heart transplant miracle.

Her brother was one of the early recipients of an LVAD pump, at a time that the technology was in its early stages. The pump was too big for the cavity in his abdomen and he had several problems with closing the incision. He spent almost the whole last year of his life awaiting a transplant. He died six years ago.

Four years ago, my wife's sister had a deteriorating heart condition that only a transplant would recify. She did receive a transplant from a young donor and our family has lived through the roller coaster of emotions from the anxiety of being told of a possible match of a donor to the disappointment of later learning that it was a no-go. This happened several times.

To those not familiar with the procedure (as we were not) there is only a four hour window to evaluate the condition of the deceased donor; matching the critical factors including DNA markers; transporting members of the transplant team to the location of the donor and removing the donor heart; transporting the heart to the hospital for the recipient; verifying that the heart is still good and then removing the deseased heart and performing the transplant.

She recently celebrated the fourth anniversary of the successful operation. Our family has been given a window into this remarkable achievement of the Medical Profession and we pray daily for all those dedicated individuals who perform and support this path to a quality life for very ill people.

A reading of this experience is described in Heartfelt: A Journey Through Transplantation.

[Outlaw Woman]

That is quite an account. Thank you for sharing it. It is indeed a miracle and one that will probably disappear if this monstrosity of a healthcare plan is not struck down.

[Toespi]

Thanks so much, my husband is a heart transplant recipient, it will be two years in June, he was on the transplant list for two weeks, which shows how much the averages vary. I would also like to add some additional Information. The LVAD procedure is very difficult and the recovery time is long. If a person is on the transplant list and undergoes LVAD, they are automatically removed from the list for six months and are not eligible for a transplant, until they are reevaluated. Ths reevaluation can change their need status, or grade which can change every three months. As you know it is a very complex system. I doubt vey seriously that VP Cheney was on a continual list for 20 months as A1 status, the highest need grade. Some transplant hospitals also are willing to do transplants with less than perfect donor hearts, which may also be the case with a recipient who is older and their heart or LVAD is deteriorating rapidly and no other alternative.