An North Pole man who was delayed by weather in his journey to Seattle to undergo the transplant of his heart in December finally received a new heart last weekend.
Patrick Holland got the call late on Thursday, telling him that the heart was open and he underwent surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center as per Haley Holland, his spouse. Haley Holland.
” We can now look at 10 years of marriage 20, 30, and 40 years I am joking about the possibility of seeing our 45th wedding anniversary.” she added.
The Hollands were married in the year 2006. They have four kids together who were allowed to fly home on Friday while Patrick had to be in the hospital.
“We arrived at 7 o’clock in the morning. we arrived 15 minutes earlier and around 7:06, the surgeon calls me to inform me that the surgery is done,” Haley Holland said.
It was a long-awaited announcement. Holland is 57 and has suffered from congestive heart failure since the late 20s. In 2013, doctors informed Holland that he would require an organ transplant.
Many Alaskans have heard about Holland’s story this winter. The medical center informed him December. 22 that his heart with an ideal match was waiting in Seattle. The two brothers boarded the plane from Fairbanks early the next day however, the plane was diverted away from Seattle due to a massive storm of ice which caused the plane to turn around before landing in Anchorage. Holland was forced to let his heart go to a different person who was on the list for transplant. The following week, he told that he was deciding to relocate to Seattle.
“Because I’m not going to take another chance, it’s unlikely to occur,” Patrick Holland said.
Holland lives with an individual in the Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood close to the hospital for the past three months and Haley and her children were at North Pole. He was determined to remain busy.
” It’s true that he was here for a while and got an unpaid job that worked with people suffering from dementia severe. It’s what he’s got an interest in,” Haley Holland said.
Since January, there’s been three occasions when he was invited to the transplant center to receive a heart transplant and each failed. In March, Haley and her kids arrived only to learn that the operation wouldn’t take place.
“We have been totally knocked off-guard by all aspects of our lives,” Haley Holland said.
Since her transplant, she she was capable of visiting twice a day, and she has been able to take the childrenfrom 4 to 17 in one or two at each time. She is discovering what’s the next.
“Well it’s just been replaced by another uncertain situation. The process of obtaining a heart transplant involves replacing one condition with another” she explained.
She also said that she has heard of patients do not recover from their illness. There’s rejection and complications.
“And that’s what we’re living right now,” Haley Holland said.
Patrick Holland won’t be coming back to the North Pole for several months. He’ll remain in an ICU for 3-4 weeks. after which he’ll be transferred to a rehabilitation facility known as Transplant House to undergo three-to 4 months, which includes occupational therapy and physical therapy, as well as cardiac rehabilitation.
Haley Holland anticipates being in Seattle approximately two weeks during this trip.
“There is nothing that differs in being here than staying home in terms of washing clothes as well as dishes and feeding the kids and taking up the time of them,” she said. “Having my kids here is the most likely factor that keeps me from turning into a pool of tears. I’m trying to ensure that this is a fun experience for them, not an emotional experience.”
She told us she has plenty to be grateful for and reminds people to sign-up for organ donation.
