To watch the 600th heart transplant video click here: http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/02/02/19331361.html#/news/london/2012/02/02/pf-19331406.html
A heart sits in a cooler in a Boston hospital.
A travel-weary Dr. Neil Mackenzie picks up the package after a long day in surgery, only to face another when he returns to London.
It’s 1983 and the multi-organ transplant program at London Health Sciences Centre is in its infancy.
Then age 23, Ken Gaston is flown to London from his home in Calgary, anticipating the arrival of his new heart. Fluids are pooling in his hands and feet, his liver is failing, and his skin is yellow.
Fast-forward to Oct. 21, 2011.
A heart sits in the hands of Dr. Mackenzie Quantz.
For the 600th time, surgeons at the LHSC program are about to replace a damaged heart with a healthy one, offering patient Desmond Dias an extension on his life.
The family man will be given another summer to golf with his children.
Fast-forward again to Thursday.
A heart sits in the chest of Mark Cronk.
The 69-year-old, who waited months for a new heart, underwent a successful transplant nine days ago.
And now he sits in a room with both Gaston and Dias, as LHSC celebrates a 30-year-old program that has performed the most heart transplants of any centre in Canada. A program that has given renewed life to more than 600 patients who otherwise would not have survived.
A heart sits in the next donor who’s unaware of the chance they will give a stranger.
By CRAIG GLOVER, THE LONDON FREE PRESS
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