Funviralpark An Alaskan man in need of a heart transplant was unable to fly in in time for a heart transplant due to travel disruptions caused by a US winter storm on Christmas Day, giving another patient the chance to receive a life-saving organ. had to give up.
Patrick Holland, 56, a father of seven battling congestive heart failure, received a potentially life-changing call on Dec. 22 from the University of Washington Medical Center that a heart was becoming available. I was.
“To be honest, it was horrible news when I heard I was going to have a transplant. I was terrified,” Holland told CNN. “And I was thrilled.”
Holland, who is from Fairbanks, Alaska, was given eight hours to fly to Seattle for processing, so she immediately booked an overnight flight and rushed to the airport.
But when he got there, he found it was canceled amid last week’s ferocious storms that hit most of the country.
After learning of his situation, airport staff put him on the next flight — the flight was prematurely rerouted to Anchorage because the Seattle runway was closed with ice — Holland was the first to land. Noticed.
“I started panicking,” he said. Because when I hear that, I don’t think I can wait that long for someone to donate a heart. Because the longer you wait, the longer it takes for the tissue to break down. ”
Shortly after he got the call, the hospital was going to give the heart to someone else.
Holland tried to look on the bright side and was happy that another person received the life-saving organ that weekend and worked a Christmas miracle.
“I think that day I cried more than I ever had in my life, and I think I put on all sorts of emotions that I’ve never had in my life. To get out of that funk, I immediately said, ‘To God Thank you, there will be families saving someone’s dad, saving someone’s brother, saving someone’s uncle,” he told King Five.
Holland said he hopes the surgery will help keep his seven children aged 3 to 36 and his wife of 17 alive.
He also said he plans to return to Seattle to find temporary housing so he doesn’t miss the chance for a new heart.
“We aim to be more prepared for the second call,” reads a post on his Facebook page dedicated to his journey. The next one could come at any time, or it could be weeks or months later.”
