When the US winter storm over Christmas made it impossible for an Alaskan man who needed a heart transplant to travel to the surgery in time, he was forced to forfeit his chance to deliver the life-saving organ to another patient.
On December 22, the University of Washington Medical Center called Patrick Holland, a 56-year-old father of seven who was suffering from congestive heart failure, perhaps saving his life.
To be very honest, learning that I might need a transplant was horrifying. Holland admitted to being scared to CNN. “And after that, I was happy.”
With only eight hours to get to Seattle for the treatment, Holland, who is from Fairbanks, Alaska, hurriedly booked an overnight trip and sped to the airport.
But when he arrived, he discovered that it had been postponed because of the violent storm that pounded the majority of the nation last week.
When airport personnel heard about his predicament, they got him on the following flight, which ended up being rerouted to Anchorage in the middle of the journey due to ice blocking the runways in Seattle. Holland only learned this after arriving.
He confessed, “I started to worry and my darkest worries were overtaking me. You think, “There’s someone donating a heart, and I can’t imagine they can wait that long,” when you hear that. Because tissue decomposes more slowly the longer it is left to,
Soon after, he received a call informing him that the hospital would be giving the heart to someone else.
Holland said he tried to see the positive side of things and was happy that another individual was able to experience their own Christmas miracle after receiving the life-saving organ that weekend.
“I believe I shed more tears that day than I ever had in my life, as well as every emotion I’ve ever experienced. I immediately shouted, “Thank God, there’s going to be a family saving someone’s dad, saving someone’s brother, saving someone’s, saving someone’s, you know,” to snap out of that mood, he told King 5.
The operation, according to Holland, should enable him keep up with his wife of 17 years and his seven children, whose ages range from 3 to 36.
In order to not lose out on a second opportunity to receive a new heart, he added that he intends to go back and locate temporary housing in Seattle.
On a Facebook page for his travels, a post stated, “We aspire to be more prepared for the second call.” “The first one arrived after 2.5 weeks. The following one can occur right away or it might take weeks or months.
»Seattle flight prevents Alaskan man from getting heart transplant«