Happy Heart Day

I'm not one to go crazy over Valentine's Day.  However, I have decided to leave you all with a classic "heart" photo!  This is a photo of my brother, Michael's, two hearts.  It was taken in the OR on Dr. Cusimano's camera [I'm frequently asked if I took the photo, which I did not] during his heart transplant surgery on October 27th, 2010.  The hearts are being held over Michael's resting body.  The heart on the left is Michael's original, enlarged heart. The one on the right is his new, donated heart.  Michael's first comment after seeing this photograph was "there's no question that I needed the transplant".


 Michael's two hearts. 

 Some details for those who are not sqeamish!  Dr. Cusimano is holding the old heart with his thumb in the aorta.  Also, the wire coming out of the old heart is the remnants of Michael's implanted defibrillator, which was removed during the transplant. The metal bar running along the bottom [near the gauze] is calleed a separator and is holding Michael's ribs open.  The blood-filled tube running over the separator is redirecting Michael's blood to the heart-blood machine which oxygenatesd his blood during the surgery.  The yellow on the new heart is fat.  Our hearts need a healthy amount of fat on them.

Happy Valentine's day!!!

Delivering the Gift Life

As I was out & about in Toronto last night, I spotted this vehicle parked outside of St. Mike's Hospital...

It's a Trillum Gift of Life Minivan...apparently, organs don't arrive in taxis : )

Which gift of life was being delivered last night?

Love of Korea lives on

This story is somewhat close to my heart since my children are half Korean...


Linda Freel, a teacher in a school in Uijeongbu who lived in Korea for 14 years, donated organs on her death. (Yonhap News)

An American woman who died after a brain hemorrhage has given new life to three Koreans through life-saving organ donations, a local hospital said Tuesday.

Linda Freel, 52, who was a teacher at the International Christian School of Euijeongbu, became the first American to donate organs in Korea.

Fourteen years ago she settled here to teach students with her husband Rex Freel, who is principal of the school in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul.

On Jan. 20, Linda fell down from cerebral hemorrhaging in a classroom and was declared brain-dead the next day. She suffered no chronic illness.

As she had already expressed her willingness to give her organs, her husband immediately agreed that they be harvested for transplant.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldm.com) & taken from the Korea Herald
Read the rest of this story at: http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110125000828

Cambridge woman thankful for heart donation

Andrea & her husban, Shaun

The following article was written about Andrea Clegg.  Andrea received her heart on December 21, 2011 at Toronto General Hospital.  It was the day of the winter solstice.  She hosts a wonderful blog at stayingtruetomyheart.blogspot.com.  Please click on the link to read her amazing story http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/476903--cambridge-woman-thankful-for-heart-donation.

Fallen Officer's Eyes Donated To Child

Canadian, fallen Officer, Sgt. Ryan Russell

Death did not stop Sgt. Ryan Russell from helping others.

Toronto Police Chaplain Rev. Walter Kelly announced during Russell’s funeral service that he had donated his eyes to a child.

“As Ryan closed his eyes in death, he gave resurrection and a new kind of life to someone else, and that’s wonderful,” Kelly said Wednesday.

He was with Russell’s family when they received the call from Trillium Gift of Life Network, who told the family Russell’s blue eyes had been donated to a child.

“Even in death he was giving,” Kelly said. “Families touched by a tragedy have to make a decision. Now with medical science the way it is we can care for someone else who is hoping and praying for a miracle.”

Frank Markel president and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network said he thinks this donation says very good things about Russell, who signed a donor card, and his family, who supported the decision.

“For him to be so generous speaks volumes about who he was,” he said. “That in particular, his wife, would let him be a cornea donor speaks volumes. It’s entirely (keeping) with the courage we saw yesterday.”

Yet Markel understands why people may not want to part with their loves one’s eyes.

“For many people the eyes are so closely related to who we are,” he said.

Kelly urged people to think about organ donation before a death occurs.

“(Tragedies) happen in our lives, we don’t know, and sometimes we only have hours to decide,” he said.

The courage Russell and his family displayed by donating has not only helped the child who received the eyes but the family of that child who will no longer suffer.

“The cornea gives the gift of sight,” Markel said. “Sight is so precious to us, it opens up so much to us.”

By VICTORIA GRAY,TORONTO SUN

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/01/19/16952776.html

Okay, so this picture is pre-transplant [only hours pre-transplant], but
doesn't it look like it Michael could be at the biopsy clinic? : )

As time progresses, Michael has biopsies less frequently.  However, he is scheduled for two this week. Once a heart transplant patient becomes more stable, their biopsies are no longer at Toronto General Hospital but rather, are performed at Toronto Western Hospital.  On Tuesday, Michael was schedule for biopsy at the Western.  The fantastic Dr. Delgado attempted the biopsy through the jugular.  However, after attempts on both sides of the neck, Dr. Delgado was unsuccessful.  As a result, Michael's biopsy was rescheduled for Friday at the General.  Hopefully, Michael's jugular veins will cooperate on Friday!  If not, the doctor may have to go through the artery in the groin - meaning, a very, very long day at the hopsital with a lot of pressure to stop bleeding.  So much work for such a small piece of his heart!  Fingers crossed.

70 days in...

Seventy days post-transplant today!

Michael - just over 2 months post transplant

Today, Michael is seventy days post-transplant.  To date, he's only had one minor rejection & has continually had his plethora of medications reduced.  Things are looking good : )