"I was 38 minutes with no brain activity," says Joe Bitter, recalling a 2015 incident.

He collapsed one night without warning, and his life thereafter would be much different. Joe, a 69-year-old retired law enforcement officer, avid boater and competitive line dancer, led an active lifestyle with his wife and two children.

Watch: How a 3D model, surgery helped a Florida father avoid a heart transplant.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video natural sound pkg (2:15) is available in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"My biggest concern was just to stay alive," says Joe.

Joe's doctors near his Vero Beach, Fla. home repaired one of his heart's valves and implanted a defibrillator to monitor and restore regular heart rhythm. But by 2019, his heart was again in distress.

"My defibrillator hit me and brought me back right away. But when it did, the wire moved and caused the damage to my heart," says Joe.

Joe, who was uncertain if he would live to the next holiday celebration with his family, was told a transplant was his only option. So he reached out to Mayo Clinic.

"Mayo was the very top and No. 1 in the state. I figured if anybody could do anything to help me, they could," says Joe.

An early appointment with a Mayo Clinic sonographer led to another concerning discovery.

"She identified another minute leak in my heart that wasn't supposed to be there. Had she missed that, I wouldn't be talking about this today," says Joe.

He had a hole between two chambers of his heart and a second hole that led outside his heart.

"Blood was pooled outside of the heart, which is a very dangerous situation. He also had a couple of valves that were very leaky," says Dr. Parag Patel, a Transplantation Medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic and a member of Joe's care team.

After reviewing the complex issues at hand, the team printed a 3D model of Joe's heart to prepare the strategy forward.

"Doctors could see my heart in their hands before they even opened me up. And it was amazing that they would do this for me," says Joe.

Surgery in August 2020 focused on fixing Joe's heart, helping him avoid a transplant.

"My recovery was unbelievable. I went from hardly being able to move the one day to the next day to every day looking like I was making a week's improvement every 24 hours," says Joe.

Weeks after leaving the hospital, Joe and his wife, Susan Bitter, celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. It was a joyful day the couple didn't think they would see.

"Joy because that's what it is. That's what it's all about. That one little thing in life, I mean, to be able to go from where you think you might not make it through the day, and then to be able to," says Susan.

As his health improved, Joe returned to the water ― fishing and even buying a new boat. His progress has also affected Dr. Patel.

"The best thing is seeing Mr. Bitter in clinic every couple of months and we've gotten to the point where we're not always talking about the medical issues. We've gotten to the point where we're talking about, 'How's life?'" says Dr. Patel.

A life Joe has reclaimed.

"I've already got this extra time, and I would try everything I possibly could to keep my life so I could still be here to take care of my family," says Joe.

For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed. Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting.

The post How a 3D model, surgery helped a Florida father avoid a heart transplant appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Regardless of the cause, Dr. Bashar Aqel, a Mayo Clinic transplant hepatologist, says when the liver can no longer function, a life-saving transplant may be needed.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:12) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

The liver is the largest internal organ of the body. It is essential for metabolism, digesting food and ridding the body of toxic substances. Liver failure can happen quickly, or over time.

"Once liver disease advances, the only way we can reverse the process and give the patient their life back is by replacing the liver, " says Dr. Bashar.

When patients become a candidate for a liver transplant, they are added to a waitlist. Unfortunately, there are more people waiting for a liver than there are available organs.

"As the patient is waiting on the list, they usually are anxiously waiting for that call when a donor becomes available. And that's what we call the deceased donor liver transplantation."

Another option is a living liver transplant. It's a major surgery where a person donates two-thirds of his or her liver. Donors needs to go through an extensive evaluation to make sure they can donate safely.

"A healthy liver is able to regenerate, and you will be surprised to know that with living donor liver transplantation, both segments of the liver will grow back to almost the normal size within 90 days after transplantation."

Being a living organ donor may not be an option for everyone, but there are ways to people can sign up to be an organ donor. It can be as easy as checking a box on your driver's license.

"Donating your organs is really donating the gift of life to people who are in urgent need for organ transplantation," Dr. Bashar says.

For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was either recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in a nonpatient care area where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

The post Mayo Clinic Minute: When the liver can no longer function appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

This year, Thanksgiving is a holiday that has more meaning to Jean Austin, 62. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic making 2020 a year many would like to forget, Jean will be celebrating a year made possible thanks to a selfless act on love. But what makes the milestone even more meaningful is that her donor was her son Andrew.

Jean Austin-Danner was in her 30s when she was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, a genetically inherited condition that causes cysts on the kidneys to grow and take over kidney tissue until the kidneys no longer function. Outside of periodic blood work and visits with a nephrologist, the Ormond Beach, Florida, resident says it didn’t really affect her life. 

Growing up, Jean's youngest son, Andrew Austin, now 29, never realized his mom had a health condition that would ultimately alter the course of his life. “It was a nonissue,” he says.

Then, in 2018, more than two-and-a-half decades after her diagnosis, Jean’s condition began to worsen. Andrew urged her to come to Mayo Clinic, where he was working in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Doctors told Jean she’d likely need to begin dialysis or undergo a kidney transplant. 

The average wait time for a kidney from the national deceased donor waiting list in the U.S. is five years, but there was another option that her care team mentioned: an organ from a living donor.  

And Andrew jumped. “I never thought twice about it,” he says. “I have a bond with my mom that I don’t have with anyone else. I wanted to give my mom a chance to continue living life without the interference of dialysis.”

His mom, however, was a bit apprehensive. “I think donation in any form is one of the more profound gifts one person can give to another," Jean says. "But as my son, I wanted him to be whole and healthy.”

But Andrew is nothing if not persuasive. “You gave me two kidneys. The least I can do is give one back,” he says to his mother.

Eventually Jean agreed. “Once I understood the significance to him of helping extend my life expectancy and quality, I realized I just needed to graciously accept the kidney,” she says.

On Nov. 26, 2019, she did just that.

Watch: Mother and son thankful for gift of transplant.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (3:02) is in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network."

While Andrew’s kidney was accepted by his mother’s body almost immediately, the psychological impact on both mother and son was more significant than either expected. “I have a deep sense of what an amazing gift my son gave me. The fact that someone chose to do this for me is an incredible honor,” says Jean.

And though COVID-19 and some unexpected complications put a damper on Jean’s plans for 2020, she and Andrew are finding opportunities to celebrate. The pair marked their recent birthdays together and will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the transplant on Thanksgiving together.

“I try to make each day count,” says Jean.

____________________

Related information:

• Learn more about kidney transplants.
• Read about the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center.
• Connect with others talking about transplants on Mayo Clinic Connect.
• Explore Mayo Clinic in Florida.
• Request an appointment.

The post Mother and son thankful for gift of transplant appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Sunday: Heart transplant

Monday: Combined double lung and liver transplant

Tuesday and Wednesday: One 12-hour left ventricular assist device procedure each day

Thursday: Two lung transplants and a heart transplant

Friday: Lung transplant

What you're reading is the surgical schedule of the cardiothoracic transplant team at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus for one week in May. For those of you keeping score, that's six organ transplants in six days — including the first-ever combined bilateral lung and liver transplant performed at Mayo Clinic. The team also sprinkled in two left ventricular assist device placements for good measure.

All told, it added up to a record-setting week of life-saving proportions for our cardiothoracic colleagues. Richard Daly, M.D., who oversees it all as director of Mayo's heart and lung transplant service in Rochester, tells us it was far from a typical week. "We've never had a week like that," he says. "For the most part, our transplant volume is totally random. Each one comes along unpredictably. But that week we just kept getting donor organ offers that we thought would work for other patients so we just kept going."

Read the rest of the story.

________________________________________________

This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.

The post In the Loop: 6 transplants in 6 days appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

On the next Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Charles Rosen, director of the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center, will discuss the importance of organ donation and operating a transplant center with three sites. Also on the program, Dr. Adrian Vella, an endocrinologist at Mayo Clinic, will discuss A1C guidelines for diabetes. And Dr. Michael Joyner, a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist, will share the many benefits of exercise.

Here's your Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.

The post Organ donation and transplant / diabetes guidelines / benefits of exercise: Mayo Clinic Radio appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

The American Society of Transplantation (AST) awarded its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, to Thomas Gonwa, M.D. at the recent American Transplant Congress in Boston. The Lifetime Achievement Award honors a senior investigator whose work has advanced the field of transplantation.

Dr. Gonwa came to Mayo Clinic in 2001, after leading renal and liver transplant programs at Baylor University Medical Center. He helped build the local transplant program in Jacksonville, Florida, which to date has done more than 5,600 solid organ transplants. Dr. Gonwa went on to serve as chair of the Department of Transplantation from 2006 through 2015.

Today he serves as associate director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Regenerative Medicine in Florida.

Dr. Gonwa is an active clinical investigator, best known for his work on chronic kidney disease in patients undergoing liver transplantation. He has authored 188 original papers and 10 book chapters.

The AST represents more than 3,300 transplantation professionals dedicated to advancing the field and improving patient care by promoting research, education, advocacy, and organ donation.

MEDIA CONTACT: Paul Scotti, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Advancing Field of Transplantation: Lifetime Honor for Dr. Gonwa appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., and SILVER SPRING, Md. — Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) today announced a collaboration to build and operate a lung restoration center on the Mayo campus. The goal is to significantly increase the volume of lungs for transplantation by preserving and restoring selected marginal donor lungs, making them viable for transplantation. The restored lungs will be made available to patients at Mayo Clinic and other transplant centers throughout the United States.

Construction of the center is expected to be completed in late 2017. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

“This collaboration is exciting because it allows Mayo Clinic to bring the latest advances in life-saving technology to transplant patients,” says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., chief executive officer of Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida. “Ultimately, this relationship will help Mayo Clinic expand its reach to patients who could benefit from this innovation. Increasing the number of lungs available for transplantation provides more options for patients suffering from pulmonary disease.”

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kevin Punsky, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 904-953-0746, punsky.kevin@mayo.edu;
Michael Benkowitz, United Therapeutics Corporation, 415-464-4838, mbenkowitz@unither.com

Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Farrugia are available in the downloads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn5NUxLV-ms

As part of the agreement, Mayo Clinic will lease land on its campus to a subsidiary of United Therapeutics to construct, equip and operate the center. Mayo Clinic will provide physician oversight as well as procure and deliver lungs to the center for restoration in coordination with organ procurement organizations. In addition, the organizations plan to work together on regenerative medicine research — a game-changing area of medicine with the potential to heal damaged tissues and organs. The two organizations also may collaborate to develop similar lung restoration centers at Mayo Clinic’s campuses in Arizona and Minnesota.

“We are honored to work with Mayo Clinic to expand the supply of transplantable lungs,” said Martine Rothblatt, chairman & co-chief executive officer of United Therapeutics. “Mayo Clinic was uniquely able to save my father’s mobility after a car accident fifty years ago, and I have held them in awe ever since.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 123,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant. About 1,600 people are waiting for a lung transplant and many more could benefit from a transplant if more donor lungs were available. Every 10 minutes another name is added to the national waiting list at the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the organization that manages the nation's organ transplant system. On average, about 18 people die every day waiting for transplants that can't take place because of the shortage of donated organs.

United Therapeutics was founded in 1996 as a biotechnology company focused on developing products for pulmonary arterial hypertension. One of its key projects is to develop solutions to the shortage of transplantable organs, including through ex-vivo lung perfusion technology, the process by which marginal donor lungs are treated with specialized solutions and gases that can reverse lung injury and remove excess fluids in the lung, and making them clinically viable for transplant.

“Only about 1 percent of people who sign organ donor cards die in a way that renders their organs transplantable, and most of those precious few lungs are currently discarded due to their rapid deterioration upon death,” noted Dr. Rothblatt, who earned her Ph.D. on the medical ethics of organ transplantation. “We are confident that our ex-vivo lung perfusion technology will enable many of those otherwise discarded lungs to instead be used as gifts of life to patients on the lung transplant waiting list.”

Mayo Clinic has one of the nation’s largest and most experienced transplant practices, with campuses in Minnesota, Arizona and Florida. More than 200 physicians in transplant medicine and surgery at the three campuses perform about 1,800 transplants a year and have a long track record of excellent outcomes. Mayo Clinic established its lung transplant program on the Florida campus in 2001. Since then, Mayo has performed 469 lung transplants and eight heart-lung transplants. The survival rate at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida exceeds the national average by 5 percent (1-year patient survival rate at Mayo is 93 percent versus 88 percent nationally).

“At Mayo Clinic, we are committed to delivering the highest quality of care to each and every patient,” Dr. Farrugia says. “Our collaboration with United Therapeutics is a great example of how we are continuously looking for new ways to improve access to care, expand the science and improve patient outcomes across the United States.”

# # #

About United Therapeutics
United Therapeutics Corporation is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative products to address the unmet medical needs of patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions. For more information, visit unither.com.

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit mayoclinic.com or newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.

Forward-looking Statements

Statements included in this press release that are not historical in nature are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements include, among others, United Therapeutics’ and Mayo’s expectations regarding the collaboration between United Therapeutics and Mayo Clinic and the ability of this collaboration to result in increase in the available supply of lungs for transplant. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as those described in United Therapeutics’ periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Consequently, such forward-looking statements are qualified by the cautionary statements, cautionary language and risk factors set forth in United Therapeutics’ periodic reports and documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. United Therapeutics claims the protection of the safe harbor contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for forward-looking statements. This information is provided as of June 12, 2015, and neither United Therapeutics nor Mayo Clinic assumes any obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason. [uthr-g]

The post Mayo Clinic and United Therapeutics Collaborate on Lung Restoration Center appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

He’s a former Green Beret who served in Somalia. He’s a record-holding skydiver with several thousand jumps under his belt since he began leaping out of airplanes at age 18. And he’s a liver transplant recipient, who affectionately refers to his transplanted organ as “Sam.”

Kim Dobson, 63, of Oveido, Florida, is the definition of someone who lives life to the fullest. He not only participates in national and international skydiving competitions, but also scuba dives, plays golf, and enjoys shooting sports. With both a sports and military background, he was active, fit and the picture of health. But that all changed in 1994, after knee surgery and after undergoing a series of tests for back pain. Told he had elevated liver enzymes, Kim was eventually diagnosed with type 3 hepatitis C. Surprised but confident he could beat his disease and resume his active lifestyle, he went through three cycles/47 weeks of interferon treatments at a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

“I’ve always lived a very active lifestyle and wasn’t about to let this setback in my health stop me from living my life to the fullest,” Kim says. “I’ve always kind of lived life at 100 mph and wasn’t going to do anything different.”

But in 2007, shortly after completing a world-record jump in California, things took a turn for the worse. Kim's hepatitis C continued, and his health began a steady decline. His journey for answers took him to Mayo Clinic's Florida campus, where he was evaluated and immediately admitted to the hospital. The once fit man was now very weak and being fed through a feeding tube as his weight plummeted to 119 pounds.

“This was a very different situation than I was used to during my life,” he says. “As a soldier and an athlete, I was always very strong and in control of things. For the first time, I felt weak and out of control. It wasn’t a feeling I wanted to ever feel again.”

Kim was listed for a transplant at Mayo Clinic in February 2008, and he received his new liver in September of the same year. Less than a year later, he was skydiving again — and setting records, too. Since his transplant, Dobson has claimed state records for skydivers over age 40 in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. He also holds three different world records for skydivers over 40. And he holds a world record for skydivers over age 60.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t thank God, my donor and my donor’s family for the gift they’ve given me,” Kim says. “I named my liver 'Sam' to honor and have a more personal relationship with my donor, who I’m very grateful to.”

He also credits Mayo Clinic for saving his life, and providing the care and compassion to get him back on his feet again.

“I’ve never been treated better at a hospital than I was treated at Mayo Clinic,” Kim says. “Everyone really cares, from the doctors and nurses to the housekeeping staff.”

He also encourages everyone to consider becoming an organ donor, as have most of his friends and family members. “Each of us has an opportunity to save multiple lives simply by registering as an organ donor,” he says. “Through your generosity, let someone else have a chance to continue their life’s journey once your life’s journey has ended.”

HELPFUL LINKS

• Learn more about hepatitis C.
• Learn about hepatitis C treatment options at Mayo Clinic.
• Learn about the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center.
• Connect with Mayo Clinic communities: Transplant Group
• Request an appointment.

The post World Record Skydiver Credits ‘Sam’ for the Ability to Live Life at 100 mph appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

A medicina regenerativa não é mais ficção científica. É uma doação substancial de Jorge e Leslie Bacardi, das Bahamas,  irá acelerar significativamente as pesquisas do Centro de Medicina Regenerativa da Clínica Mayo, em Jacksonville, na Flórida.

Jorge Bacardi, cuja família vem fabricando rum e outras bebidas destiladas há 150 anos, sofre desde a infância de discinesia ciliar primária, doença que debilita o pulmão, que quase acabou com sua vida. Um transplante de pulmão duplo no campus da Flórida da Clínica Mayo, em 2008, permitiu que tivesse sua primeira respiração de ar completa aos 64 anos de idade.

“A medicina regenerativa é um passo extraordinário na evolução da humanidade”, disse Jorge Bacardi. “É uma grande honra para Leslie e para mim podermos nos associar à Clínica Mayo no desenvolvimento de tal avanço no campo da medicina”, declarou.

A medicina regenerativa busca as causas básicas das doenças, ao desenvolver maneiras de rejuvenescer o corpo, usando seus processos naturais de autocura; substituir células danificadas por células saudáveis, derivadas do próprio paciente (evitando rejeições do sistema imunológico); e regenerar a função ao aplicar células específicas ou produtos celulares.

Os pesquisadores de medicina regenerativa da Mayo estão alvejando problemas em todo o corpo, incluindo doença cardíaca, acidente vascular cerebral, doença de Alzheimer e ferimentos traumáticos que afetam combatentes veteranos. Alguns estudos estão em estágio inicial. Outros, em fase de estudos clínicos com pacientes.

Os pesquisadores já podem diferenciar células-tronco na pele, cérebro, pulmão.  Por exemplo, as células da própria pele do paciente podem ser coletadas, reprogramadas em laboratório para receberem determinadas características e, então, reinjentadas no paciente, para tratar doenças em várias partes do corpo.

Leslie Bacardi diz que ela e o marido se impressionaram com um segmento do programa “Nightline”, do canal de TV americana ABC, que mostrou tecido de um coração em funcionamento, que os pesquisadores da Clínica Mayo desenvolveram a partir de um tecido da pele de um dos repórteres do programa.

“Isso, para nós, foi bastante surpreendente”, disse Leslie Bacardi. “Nós realmente pensamos, sinceramente, que no futuro, a Clínica Mayo vai fazer isso acontecer. Pense em uma paciente com doença de Lou Gehrig ou diabetes. Vamos conseguir livrá-los dessas doenças? Espero que sim.

“A medicina regenerativa é, para nós, um investimento no futuro e no futuro da medicina. Pode levar algum tempo para colher quaisquer benefícios, mas quando eles vierem, o investimento vai parecer pequeno. O entusiasmo com que olhamos para a frente, para enxergar os avanços da medicina regenerativa, irá nos manter esperançosos por soluções para muitos mistérios médicos”, afirmou.

A doação dos Bacardi irá criar o Fundo Jorge e Leslie Bacardi em Medicina Regenerativa, com homenagem ao médico Cesar A. Keller, que cuidou do tratamento de Jorge Bacardi antes e depois do transplante de pulmão duplo e que, atualmente, está envolvido na pesquisa de medicina regenerativa para o pulmão.

A doação também será usada para acelerar o trabalho de medicina regenerativa no campus da Clínica Mayo na Flórida e irá colocar Jorge e Leslie Bacardi no cargo de diretores associados do Centro de Medicina Regenerativa da Flórida, uma posição ocupada, atualmente, pelo médico Thomas A. Gonwa.

“Somos muito gratos pela doação dos Bacardi, que irá acelerar muito nossa capacidade de fornecer soluções de medicina regenerativa a pacientes”, diz Thomas Gonwa, que também é presidente do Departamento de Transplante da Clínica Mayo na Flórida. “A generosidade dos Bacardis irá nos ajudar a transformar o tratamento médico de pessoas com alguns dos mais difíceis problemas de tratar”, afirmou.

A familia Bacardi já havia doado anteriormente recursos para a doação para a construção da “Gabriel House of Care”, no campus da Clínica Mayo em Jacksonville, Flórida, para fornecer hospedagem acessível, por longo período e em um ambiente com facilidades, a pacientes visitantes de transplante e oncologia de radiação. O nome homenageia Christopher Mark Gregory, que perdeu sua vida com a idade de 19 anos e cuja doação de órgão possibilitou a Jorge Bacardi receber seu transplante. Antes de conhecer seu doador do órgão por nome, Jorge Barcardi escreveu uma carta de gratidão à família do doador, no qual se referiu a Christopher Gregory como “Gabriel”, seu anjo salvador.

Para mais informações sobre medicina regenerativa na Clínica Mayo de Jacksonville, Flórida, contate o departamento de Serviços Internacionais pelo telefone 1-904-953-7000 ou envie e-mail para intl.mcj@mayo.edu. Para mais informações em português, visite mayoclinic.org/portuguese/.

# # #

Sobre a Mayo Clinic
Completando 150 anos de serviços à humanidade em 2014, a Mayo é uma das principais clínicas mundiais, dedicada à atenção médica, pesquisa e educação para pessoas em todas as etapas da vida.  Não tem fins lucrativos. Para mais informações, acesse 150years.mayoclinic.org ou newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.

CONTACTO: Guta Bacelar, 305-598-0125, gbacelar@bellsouth.net

The post Familia Bacardi faz doação para contribuir com avanço da pesquisa da medicina regenerativa na Mayo Clinic appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

To 22-year-old double lung transplant recipient Curtis Higgons, being dubbed the “miracle patient” by his physicians may seem somewhat overstated. But when you consider the medical challenges his doctors had to contend with in preparing him for a life-saving double lung transplant, his moniker may be well deserved.

Curtis was born with cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States alone. A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and can lead to life-threatening lung infections. It also obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food. As the diseases progresses, lung transplantation often becomes a last treatment option.

“Although I was diagnosed with CF at six months old, it only had minor effects on my breathing until I reached my early high school years,” says Curtis. “I was a varsity athlete in bowling and golf, but during my sophomore year of high school things began to progress, and I ended up in the hospital three times.” 

After graduating high school with honors in his hometown of Henderson, Nevada, Curtis ended up going to Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida, on a scholarship to pursue a degree in the school’s aviation program. During his senior year at college, his condition again worsened, and he came to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for an evaluation in October 2013. He learned the seriousness of his condition at that evaluation.

According to David Erasmus, M.D., a member of the lung transplantation team at Mayo Clinic, Curtis’ combination of diagnoses posed some unique medical challenges that needed to be addressed before the transplant surgery could occur.

“As part of Curtis’ transplant evaluation process, he was found to have an obstruction to the superior vena cava, a blood vessel that provides venous drainage to the head and upper extremities," says Dr. Erasmus. “Over time, he had developed alternative venous drainage through 'collateral veins,' which would make lung transplantation very difficult or impossible.”

To rectify the situation and make Curtis eligible for the transplant list, he first had to undergo surgery to bypass this obstruction, and by doing so decompress the collateral veins. He had very little lung reserve and ended up on a mechanical ventilator and arterio-venous bypass after his surgery. After four days in the ICU in serious condition, Curtis’ miracle occurred – a donor matching his blood type and lung size became available, and he was able to undergo double lung transplantation that saved his life.

“To my knowledge, no one has ever been transplanted in this way,” says Dr. Erasmus. “Given the obstacles that had to be overcome to even get him listed for transplant surgery combined with a matching donor becoming available in only a few days at a critical time, Curtis’ case is truly a miracle.”

Since receiving his new lungs on Dec. 28, 2013, Curtis has been working diligently to regain his strength and energy level so he can live a normal life, including participating in his favorite sports again down the road. He is grateful to his donor for the gift of life and to Mayo Clinic for the great care he received while there.

“Having this transplant surgery has resulted in a complete turnaround in my life,” says Curtis. “Mayo Clinic is the best hospital I’ve ever been in, and it has exceeded my every expectation. I really appreciate the kindness and great care and attention I received from the doctors, nurses and everyone involved in my care.”

------

HELPFUL LINKS

• Learn about lung transplant services at Mayo Clinic.
• See services offered through the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center.
• Join the conversation in the Transplant Discussion Group on Mayo Clinic Connect.
• Learn about appointments at Mayo Clinic.

The post Miracle Patient Overcomes Unique Challenges to Receive Double Lung Transplant appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.