By: Pat Sullivan (Co-Founder)
March 25, 2019
I am a heart transplant recipient who is currently 6+ years away from my “Miracle Day.” Nov 21, 2022, is the day that will mark the ten year anniversary of my heart transplant.
My transplant journey has been a roller coaster. The transplant itself was fairly routine. But my LVAD journey before it was riddled with difficulties and my post-transplant experience has also been a challenging one.
But I am here! Still alive after my latest complication.
Six months post-transplant, I was doing very poorly. It turned out to be Aspergillosis–a mold infection of my lungs–that very nearly did me in. I remember Helen Boucher, MD (Heart Transplant and VAD Infectious Diseases Program Director at Tufts Medical Center) telling me that transplant recipients can very rapidly have a bronchial infection turn into severe pneumonia due to the immunosuppression (anti-rejection medications) we take. For years she has told me this every time I caught a cold or had a cough. Most times I would simply have my primary care doctor monitor me and prescribe my medications. But, as the years have passed, I have become much more susceptible to infections and, even more so, pneumonia.
This past summer (2018), an infection exploded into a life-threatening event involving a two-month stay in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTU/ICU) at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. To save my life, they had to perform a tracheotomy, intubate me, force me into a coma, and add a feeding tube for me to eat/drink for most of my stay.
I am writing this blog post to let every transplant recipient know that this can happen to you if you are immunosuppressed. It is common for us, after several years post-transplant, to feel like normal people and to not stay diligent in our lives. I urge all of you:
- Get flu shots
- Get pneumonia shots
- Avoid places where the flu is most present (malls, churches, airplanes, schools, concerts, sporting events)
- Pay attention to a runny nose or cough or fever
- Wash all produce with clinician-approved wash
While our loved ones can fight off a seemingly simple cold, our bodies do not have the same weapons. We cannot fight as well as they do. Keep your distance if a loved one has a cold. Or wear a mask and gloves when tending to them–as they have done so many times for you.
The bottom line: Do NOT let complacency or ‘feeling well’ keep you from performing daily diligence. It can cost you your life!
Pat Sullivan
Co-Founding Survivor
I’m glad to hear your doing better and I’m sorry to hear what you went thru. It is so true to stay diligent with your lifestyle especially when it comes to crowds. I’m coming up on my year anniversary of the gift of life and like you we all have had a journey to get there. It’s so true that when you start feeling better you can let your guard down and put yourself in situations that you wouldn’t do when you weren’t feeling as good.
Thank you again for sharing your story with us other transplant patients.❤️❤️
Hey Pat! Glad to hear you are doing better! Great advice and information for all receivers of the gift of life and for others as well! Many more blessings and best wishes!
I’m so sorry you went through this. And thank you for the warning; especially now that a horrible flu, mumps, measles and pertussis are running rampant. We all need to be super careful.
Thank you. Now, 1 year after your last post, your advice is ever more relevant that ever. Perhaps we should accept your advice as the new norm, given the horrendous COVid now rampant in the world. Blessings to you and yours,