How One Brave Patient Went from the Heart Transplant List to Climbing the Mountain Trails
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“It felt like getting kicked in the chest by a horse.” That’s how Linda described the shock she received from her implanted defibrillator when she had one of her yearly “mini heart attacks.” Her once active life was getting smaller and smaller as her heart continued to fail. Unable to even walk to meetings at her office without feeling fatigued, she waited 2 ½ years on the heart transplant list, until one day there was a finally a match. But there was a twist. Linda would receive her new heart from another brave woman who was expecting a lung and heart transplant of her own from a deceased patient. Both of their transplants would happen in a matter of hours, so Linda proceeded to the hospital for one of the rarest procedures in surgery—a Domino Transplant. Hours later, with the donor heart beating steadily in her chest, Linda could feel a strong, healthy pulse for the first time in 15 years. At first the road to recovery would be challenging for Linda, managing over 40 doses of medications each day. But now, thanks to new, innovative drug products, she relies on just a few medications—many of which are manufactured by Thermo Fisher. And a year after surgery, she hiked to the top of Angel Falls, Venezuela, with nothing but a backpack, a bottle of water and healthy heart full of new possibilities.
Watch the video to learn why we’re constantly investing, innovating, and evolving to become a better partner to our customers, and ultimately, to those waiting on their life-saving treatments.