Photo: CNN/YouTube
Patrick Holland received a call last Thursday from Seattle’s University of Washington Medical Center saying that they found a heart donor match for him.
The native Alaskan, who was suffering from congestive heart failure, had only been on the heart transplant list for a few weeks when he heard the news.
“It was terrifying news to hear that I was going to get a transplant, to be honest with you,” Holland, 56, toldCNN This Morning. “And then I was excited,” he added of learning he was going to receive a new heart.
Sadly, the timing didn’t work out, as Holland said he was unable to get from Fairbanks, Alaska to Seattle due to historic weather conditions and thousands of flight cancellations in the United States over the Christmas holiday.
Holland said that Alaska Airlines, upon learning of the intense predicament he was in, tried their best to accommodate him after his flight was cancelled. When they were able to get him on another flight, the plane was re-routed to Anchorage, Alaska, which he didn’t realize until they landed.
“I started to panic,” he shared, “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.”
After learning of multiple more flight cancellations, the dad-of-seven told his brother: “I know I’ve lost it, I know I have.”
Then he got the call from the transplant coordinator. “She was calling me back to tell me they were going to give the heart to somebody else.”
Though he has missed this opportunity, Holland remains hopeful, and looking “at the bright side of things,” he said, adding that someone else was likely able to experience a Christmas miracle.
On a Facebook pagededicated to Holland’s journey for a heart transplant, his wife Haley Holland expressed to followers that they hope to be more prepared if and when there is a second call, and said they were looking into temporary housing in Seattle should that call come through.
“The first one came in two-and-a-half weeks,” Haley said. “The next one could come any time, or it could be weeks or months out.”
As of late Thursday night, Haleyshared an updatethat Holland had found a temporary home.
After hearing his story in the news, a good samaritan reached out with the offer. “We are grateful and extremely relieved,” the post read. “But we also wanted to address those of you who reached out; to those whose offers we declined — we are so appreciative of your efforts! The staggering kindnesses, incredible grace, and amazing generosity — from family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers alike — has astounded us. We have been left simply speechless.”
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The post went on to express Patrick’s gratitude for “the assistance he has received along the way from Alaska Airlines, the University of Washington Medical Center, and the people around us and who have heard his story.”
“It has been an opportunity for Patrick to not only share his faith, but to share a universal message of looking beyond oneself in the face of great tragedy, and to find positives in the smallest and darkest of crevices,” Haley added.
source: people.com
