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>> Dr. Sharma found it more than me.
He called me on a Friday and told me I need to
be in a hospital that Sunday.
I never left,
I left but 114 later.
Everything started 5-6 years earlier.
My father had it, so I was a candidate for a trace of it.
Unfortunately, I had a big trace of it
because it inversely worked is way to the heart.
>> Amyloidosis is a rare but likely under-recognized disease.
It is a condition where the body produces
an abnormal protein in
excess amount and that protein can affect many organs in the body.
One example of this is what it deposits in the heart and it can
cause electrical conduction issues
as well as congestive heart failure.
>> Heart failure affects about 7 million people
across the United States.
But there's varying forms of heart failure.
For Harold, he had heart failure for
a long period of time and have been getting by.
But when he came to Hopkins,
he was in really dire straits.
>> In Harold's case because he was already showing us signs of
heart and kidney damage and this was not improving.
He was evaluated for combined heart kidney transplantation.
>> I couldn't really comprehend that I needed that.
But it wasn't easy.
But the nurses and the doctors made it to the part where I was
comfortable to be here without worrying about the next day.
They took care of me everyday.
I'm very grateful for that.
>> There's lot of unpredictability in
transplantation but Harold was perfect throughout.
He was always smiling, encouraging
the team and no matter what we said, he'd say okay.
Actually five days before his heart kidney transplantation.
I put him on something called ECMO.
It mean his entire bloodflow was circulating outside his body.
Despite maximal medical therapy,
his heart was truly failing at its most
extreme and it needed ECMO to stay alive.
>> I remember when my wife and I were in a room talking,
and three doctors came in
and at the back of my mind I remember them saying,
if they all come in it the means something good.
They told us that we had found a heart and a kidney for me.
>> From the time that we accept donor organs,
we have many teams that go into motion at that point.
We have our procurement team that travels to
the donor harvest site to bring back the organs,
and we have the recipient implant team
that is already on the operating room,
and that is both the heart and the kidney teams
preparing our recipient to undergo the operation.
>> Recovery after surgery,
they get you out right away to on a walk.
I could take two or three steps and have
to sit down and we'll tear.
As the days went on it got better. It wasn't easy.
You have to pay the price to get
a gift and I definitely got two gifts.
I wouldn't be sitting here if I wasn't for donor family
that consent for their loved ones to pass on their organs.
You're saving a life. When you
become a donor you're saving somebody's life.
>> It takes a huge team to take care of transplant recipients.
But we have so many different specialties
and they're all here at Hopkins.
We're very fortunate.
We have an amazing transplant infectious disease group
of physicians.
All our cardiologists our surgeons,
our oncology team, hematology, nephrology.
I can just go on and on.
It's everyone that's taking care of these people.
You do get to know the families,
you get to know the patient.
You know, our longest patient is 37 years out so
you can imagine you get to witness
those landmark times in people's lives that you share with them.
That, you know without what we do every day,
they wouldn't have that.
>> When I actually got out of the hospital my three year old and
my one-year-old great daughters came and
rush to give me hug like they hadn't see me in a while
which you can't imagine what it feels like.
Before surgery I took everything for granted. I can't do that now.
Now is about my grand kids,
my wife, just living life.
Nurse practitioner told me this morning one
of their patients spent 37 years with a heart,
so I'm shooting for that. If I can.
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