Our paternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, Michael and our parents, Mary & John, at Michael's First Communion in the 1970's.
Today is the six month anniversary of my brother, Michael's, heart transplant. His biopsies are less frequent, rejection is minimal and his medications have continually been reduced. Michael is gradually gaining stamina & weight! My memories of Michael as a kid was of him devouring a can of Coke and a bag of salt & vinegar chips. Post-transplant, he now has a ravishing sweet tooth...it would seem that it came with the heart :D
The article below is worth reading. In a nut shell, scientists have grown a human heart using adult stem cells. The potential impact of this advancement is huge. Imagine you're body NOT rejecting your donor heart because it was made specifically for you? Incredible!
This video is from the University of Minnesota regarding this research that started a few years ago...
April 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Researchers at the University of Minnesota used adult stem cells to create a living human heart that they hope will revolutionize transplants.
The breakthrough, said lead researcher Dr. Doris Taylor, could ultimately mean that “donated” hearts are no longer used in transplant operations, circumventing the ethical problems involved in organ donation and obviating the need for drugs to combat immune system rejection. Dr. Taylor, director of the university’s Center for Cardiovascular Repair, is one of the world’s leaders in heart organ repair and regeneration and has said it is her goal to create a living heart that can be transplanted into a patient, entirely out of stem cells. She presented her team’s findings at the American College of Cardiology’s annual conference in New Orleans.
“The hearts are growing, and we hope they will show signs of beating within the next weeks,” she told the Daily Mail. “There are many hurdles to overcome to generate a fully functioning heart, but my prediction is that it may one day be possible to grow entire organs for transplant.”
April 17th - 24th is National Organ and Tissue Awareness Week in Canada. John McCrae Senior Public School in Scarborough, Ontario, hosted Carrie Hoto from the Trillium Gift of Life Network to discuss organ donation with grade 7 & 8 students. Carrie's presentation was full of interesting information & students left with increased knowledge of the topic and a green ribbon to wear in support of organ donation. Here are some things that I learned today:
The oldest tissue donor in Ontario was 102 years old
The oldest organ donor in Ontario was 90 years old
Living lung donation [donation of two lung lobes] is currently in the works [although not in Ontario yet]
During a kidney transplant, the non-functioning kidney is not removed
Dialysis for a patient costs approximately $65,000 - $75,000 per year
A kidney transplant costs approximately $125,000
Shintuism is the only religion that does not support organ donation
Tissue donation can help up to 75 people
Currently, there are 1500 men, women & children waiting for an organ in Ontario
Carrie Hoto from Trillium Gift of Life speaking to a grade 7 class at John McCrae SPS in Scarborough
I would like to extend my appreciation to both Carrie Hoto and Nicole Poos from Trillium Gift of Life for making today possible!
We all know that diet plays a pivotal role in your heart's health. Well, now in Toronto and the surrounding area, have reason to celebrate! The Toronto Vegetarian Association is hosting the first ever Veggilicious, the vegetarian, heart-friendly equivalent to the wildly successful Winterlicious. Veggielicious features prix fixe menus at some top vegetarian restaurants such as Live, Fresh and Fressen.
There was a very interesting article in the New York Times today regarding a company that makes pacemakers and a hospital in Las Vegas, USA. Read more from the NY Times article below the image of this shiny, new Biotronik pacemaker:
Within the last few years, a little known company called Biotronik has cornered the market on pacemakers and defibrillators at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, Last year, 250 of the 263 patients, or 95 percent, who had a heart device implanted at the hospital center got one made by Biotronik.
The company’s hold at the hospital center is all the more striking because its implants were not used there before 2008, and its national share of the heart-device market barely exceeds 5 percent, according to industry estimates.
The devices’ sudden popularity was apparently not left to chance. In mid-2008, Biotronik hired several cardiologists who implant heart devices at the Las Vegas hospital as consultants, paying them fees that may have reached as high as $5,000 a month, company documents reviewed by The New York Times indicate. Those doctors then did the rest. Meanwhile, the hospital’s chief executive said she never asked during the hospital’s switch to Biotronik whether those physicians had a financial connection to the company.
A federal investigation is examining Biotronik’s marketing and sales practices, according to a company e-mail. While a lawyer for Biotronik confirmed the inquiry, he declined to elaborate.
