It was a special day for the Ryans: the 25th anniversary of Jay’s heart transplant. It's an anniversary the family usually marks privately. But this year, the significance of the milestone demanded something more.

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Jay Ryan had a hunch something was up when his wife, Sarah, asked him to step things up in the shirt department.

It was a special day for the Ryans: the 25th anniversary of Jay's heart transplant. It's an anniversary the family usually marks privately. But this year, the significance of the milestone demanded something more.

So, on a sunny August morning, Sarah brought Jay — looking dapper — to the courtyard of Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Marys Campus, where the family typically gathers to mark Jay's transplant anniversary. This year, friends and members of his care team were also there to surprise him. They'd all come to celebrate a life that nearly ended 25 years ago.

It's a journey Jay believes it's good to remember but not dwell on.

"Everyone has a story," Jay says. "Transplant is ours."

Mysterious virus

The Ryans' transplant story began the summer after their first year of college. The longtime friends, who grew up on the same street in Northfield, Minnesota, had just begun dating.

It was June 1996. Jay had taken a camping trip to the Boundary Waters and came back with what he thought was a cold. Within days, however, he was coughing up blood. His doctor thought the healthy 19-year-old athlete, who played catcher for the St. Cloud State University Huskies, had bronchitis. But despite treatment, the coughing continued.

A trip to the ER would reveal the true cause: Jay's heart had swollen to three times its normal size. An ambulance rushed him to United Hospital in St. Paul, where he was diagnosed with acute heart failure brought on by a virus.

"They never identified the virus that got to my heart," Jay says. "They suspect I picked something up in the Boundary Waters."

Doctors told Jay he was facing one of three outcomes: His condition could quickly worsen, and he'd need a heart transplant. His condition could stabilize, and he'd live with congestive heart failure. Or the condition could reverse itself.

Jay headed to Mayo Clinic for a second opinion. There, cardiologist Brooks Edwards, M.D., confirmed Jay's worst fears: He was going to need a heart transplant. And soon.

Over the next several days, Jay underwent testing to prepare for the lifesaving surgery. Then, he headed back to Northfield to wait for the call that a compatible heart was available.

Read the rest of Jay's story on In the Loop.

The post Sharing Mayo Clinic: Celebrating 25 years with a new heart, back where it all happened appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Kadie's journey to that transplant began four years earlier, when mild headaches sent her to her doctor. When she mentioned she'd also been feeling lightheaded and experiencing shortness of breath, the doctor ordered an echocardiogram to rule out heart problems. Instead, the test results came back abnormal.

"Up to that point, I'd had no symptoms," Kadie says. "I was 27. I played sports. I was active." Doctors near her home in the Twin Cities ran more tests, but "nobody seemed super confident on what was going on," she tells The Daily Republic. "As every abnormal test came back, it was fear on top of fear. It was very scary."

Read the rest of the story.

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This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.

The post In the Loop: Corn Palace goes red for hometown girl’s heart transplant appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, each day in the U.S., around 120,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant, and another person gets added to that list every 10 minutes. April is National Donate Life Month — a campaign to encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. On the Mayo Clinic Radio podcast, learn about Mayo Clinic's Transplant Center from its former director, Dr. Brooks Edwards. Also on the podcast, psychologist Dr. Andrea Huebner discusses autism spectrum disorder. And Dr. K Sreekumaran Nair shares findings of a recent study that shows high-intensity interval training can help reverse the aging process at the cellular level.

The post #MayoClinicRadio Podcast: 4/1/17 appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Here's your Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.

The post Mayo Clinic Transplant Center / autism / interval training and aging: Mayo Clinic Radio appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Listen to the program on Saturday, April 1, at 9:05 a.m. CDT, and follow #MayoClinicRadio.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Access archived shows.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: Mayo Clinic Transplant Center appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Listen to the program on Saturday, April 1, at 9:05 a.m. CDT.

Miss the show?  Here's the Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.

Follow #MayoClinicRadio, and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is on iHeartRadio.

Mayo Clinic Radio produces a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

Access archived shows.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: Mayo Clinic Transplant Center / autism / interval training and aging appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

"There are no words to express just how grateful I am for this gift,” says Andy Sandness. The 32-year old Wyoming man received the first-ever face transplant performed at Mayo Clinic. “This is an extraordinary example of the teamwork, collaboration and compassion that we provide,” says Samir Mardini, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of Mayo Clinic's Essam and Dalal Obaid Center for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery. In announcing details of the procedure, Dr. Mardini added, “I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEOS ABOUT THE PATIENT AND THE SURGERY.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video packages with split-channel audio, animations and extra b-roll are in the downloads.

View photo gallery on Flickr.

Read news release: Mayo Clinic announces successful face transplant on Wyoming man.

The post Transforming a life: Mayo Clinic announces its first face transplant appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Here's the podcast:  Mayo Clinic Radio PODCAST May 30 2015

The post Transplant Update/Springtime Allergies/Preventing Children’s Falls: Mayo Clinic Radio appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Human organ transplantation has come a long way since the first heart transplant in 1967. But despite advances, there are still more than 100,000 people in the U.S. waiting for a donor organ. We'll get an update on the state of organ transplantation from the director of the William J. von Liebig Center for Transplantation and Clinical Regeneration at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Brooks Edwards. We'll also hear from transplant surgeon Dr. Charles Rosen, who led teams that performed five liver transplants in one 24-hour period. Also on the program, springtime allergies are at their peak, and allergy specialist Dr. Rohit Divekar has tips for reducing symptoms. And pediatric surgeon Dr. Christopher Moir explains how to prevent pediatric falls among young children.

Myth or Matter-of-Fact: The first organ to be transplanted in a human was a kidney, not a heart.

Mayo Clinic Radio is available on iHeart Radio.

Click here to listen to the program on Saturday, May 30, at 9:05 a.m., and follow #MayoClinicRadio.

To find and listen to archived shows, click here.

Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic. The show is taped for rebroadcast by some affiliates.

The post MAYO CLINIC RADIO appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Myth or Matter-of-Fact: The first organ to be transplanted in a human was a kidney, not a heart.

Miss the program?  Here's the podcast: Mayo Clinic Radio PODCAST May 30 2015

Follow #MayoClinicRadio and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is available on iHeartRadio.

Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

To find and listen to archived shows, click here.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: Transplant Update/Springtime Allergies/Preventing Children’s Falls appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.