A 42-year-old father spent months in the hospital near death as he battled COVID-19. A double lung transplant saved his life. Carter Evans has the story.
Watch the full interview here.
COVID destroyed his lungs. Transplants arrived just in time.
Doctor starts program to close the gap for Black organ transplant patients
Studies show that 26 percent of Black patients waiting for an organ receive one and the number is nearly double for white patients. Dr. Dinee Simpson is one of 10 Black, female transplant surgeons practicing in the U.S. She started the first and only program in the country that helps African Americans receive organs.
Read more and watch the interview, here.
Your Healthy Family: Lung Transplants Increased for COVID-19 Patients During the Pandemic
Hospitals across the country have reported a rise in lung transplants for patients with severe cases of COVID-19, and that’s created new challenges for doctors along the way.
“COVID-19 has really struck the transplant community in a very unique way, from the donor side of things to the recipient side of things. So we’ve had to think about the donors that we are taking to transplant. And for a while there, we thought donor activity would actually become an issue and that we wouldn’t have enough donors,” said Marie Budev, MD, medical director of lung transplantation for Cleveland Clinic.
Read more, here.
Levine Children’s pediatric heart transplant program hits milestone
After more than 100 transplants, the pediatric heart team in Charlotte says they can keep families together for tough battles.
When a child needs a heart transplant, there’s a lot to factor in. But the team at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte says they’re equipped to provide the best care possible for kids in the region, and they say they can keep families closer to home for care.
During a panel on Facebook Live on Thursday, four members of the Pediatric Heart Surgery and Cardiology team discussed what they do to help ensure kids who need a heart transplant not only can get one but also are able to recover quickly and have continuing care that lasts until adulthood. Dr. Gonzalo Wallis, one of the experts on the panel, notes the program at Charlotte is not only the only one in the region but nationally-ranked and fully equipped to handle anything. Wallis was especially grateful for a generous donation from former Carolina Panther Greg Olsen and his wife Carol; one of their sons, TJ, was born with congenital heart disease, prompting them to help the program out.
Read the full story, here.
A 3rd Dose Of COVID Vaccines May Boost Immunity For Transplant Recipients
A small new study offers a glimmer of hope that giving organ transplant recipients a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine could boost their protection against the coronavirus.
That’s important because prior research has shown that nearly half of organ transplant recipients failed to show any antibody response even after two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
And even in transplant recipients who showed an antibody response to vaccination, that response was often more muted than in people with healthy immune systems. That has led doctors to advise these patients not to assume that vaccination equals immunity. More than 400,000 people in the U.S. are living with organ transplants, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.
Read more, here.
Implant reverses type 1 diabetes in mice by delivering beta cells
Some of the most favorable alternative sources for diabetes cell replacement therapy are human stem cells. However, a critical challenge has been finding a safe, effective means to introduce replacement cells that normalize blood sugar levels without triggering the body’s natural immune response.
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, and Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, have collaborated to develop a tiny implant that successfully delivers insulin-secreting cells, or beta cells, into mice with diabetes, without the need for immunosuppressive drug treatment.
Read more, here.
Woman donates kidney to hubby’s ex-wife days after wedding
Ten years after their first date, Debby Neal-Strickland put on a cream-colored lace gown and married her longtime sweetheart at their Florida church. Two days later, she put on a hospital gown and donated a kidney to Mylaen Merthe — her new husband’s ex-wife.
An unusual story? Yes. But the tale of Jim Merthe and his two wives is a testament to how love and compassion can triumph over division.
Mylaen, 59, had long struggled with kidney disease. By last year, she was ghostly pale with dark circles under her eyes, dragging herself through the workday with no energy. By the time she was admitted to the hospital in November, her kidneys were only functioning at 8%.
Her brother offered to donate a kidney, but wasn’t a match so Debby volunteered.
Read full story, here.
He died of a brain aneurysm, and his heart was preserved for donation with warm-temperature ‘perfusion.’ The technique may help others.
The doctors said there was no hope. Alex Anaya was just 29, yet a weakened blood vessel had ruptured in his brain, and surgeons couldn’tsave him.
Family members decided that he should be removed from a ventilator, and they gathered at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to say goodbye. His heart would keep beating for a while on its own, but soon he would die.
Then the family was approached by a coordinator from Gift of Life, a nonprofit that arranges organ transplants in the Philadelphia region. She told them, gently, that it might be possible to restart Anaya’s heart and save someone else. But it would require the use of a new device to “perfuse” the organ with a warm solution of nutrients and oxygenated blood, allowing it to beat outside his body until it was time for the transplant.
Read full story, here.
CareDx To Acquire Transplant Hero Medication Management App – M&A
The acquisition of Transplant Hero builds on AlloCare, the comprehensive CareDx mobile health app for managing the day-to-day health of patients before and after transplant. Transplant Hero strengthens CareDx’s focus on the transplant patient journey and adds to its growing digital portfolio which includes a robust suite of cloud-based solutions and software for transplant centers and dialysis providers.
Read more here.
Huntington Beach Man Receives First Minimally Invasive Double-Lung Transplant In US
Huntington Beach man has had a second chance at life after he received the nation’s first ever minimally invasive double-lung transplant. 57-year-old Frank Coburn was beginning his second chapter, enjoying life with his loving bride of more than 30 years, and the success of his two adult daughters, when the avid biker started experiencing shortness of breath.
“I would always cough on an intake, and I’d have to kind of belly breathe,” Coburn told CBS2 News This Morning’s DeMarco Morgan.
In March of 2020, he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis.
Read the full story, here.