Thousands of flights have been canceled all across the US this week due to massive winter storms. But for some people, the cancellations have meant more than missing holiday plans. One man just missed his heart transplant.
Patrick Holland, a 56-year-old father of seven who lives in Alaska, was scheduled to get the lifesaving surgery. After being on the transplant list for a few weeks, he got the call from the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. They told him a match had been found.
“It was terrifying news to hear that I was going to get a transplant, to be honest with you. I was terrified,” Holland told CNN This Morning on Thursday. “And then I was excited.”
Holland desperately needed the transplant, too. After suffering a heart attack at the age of 29, and many more complications over the years, his road with heart failure has been long and painful. These days, he can barely keep up with his kids. “Now I can’t chase them around for more than 30 seconds, and then my heart starts pounding like it’s coming out of my chest. And then if I keep going, I’ll get shocked by my defibrillator.”
Holland went straight to the airport to catch his flight from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Seattle. But his hopeful arrival soon turned into a nightmare. He learned his flight had been canceled due to the winter storm.
Airline workers did their best to help. They secured him a spot on another plane, but mid-flight the plane was rerouted.
Holland only found out the plane was in Anchorage, not Seattle, when the plane landed. He said that realization was horrible.
“I started to panic,” he said, “and my worst fears were overwhelming me. Because when you hear that, you’re like, there’s somebody donating a heart and I don’t imagine they can wait that long. Because the longer it waits, the longer the tissue decomposes.”
Holland said his hope of getting the procedure was gone. He told his brother, “I know I’ve lost it, I know I have.” Then he got the devastating phone call, confirming his suspicion.
The transplant coordinator called and told him he wouldn't be getting the surgery. “She was calling me back to tell me they were going to give the heart to somebody else," he said.
Somehow, Holland is still looking on the "bright side," saying he's happy for the person who got the new heart. He's still hopeful that he will be getting his soon.
Now he says he's planning to find a temporary home in Seattle. That way, he'll be nearby when there's a heart available. Until then, he's staying grounded in his faith.
“I know in the end where I’m going to be no matter what,” he said.
