Physicians at Spectrum Health have successfully performed the first heart-lung transplant on a 56-year-old Rockford man. The transplant was the first of its kind in West Michigan and the first in Michigan since 1999. Recipient Jeffrey Sargent received the transplant on August 23 and spoke to the press before going home on September 11. Sargent, who suffered from ideopathic pulmonary carciac hypertension, is encouraging others to become organ donors.
According to excerpts from the article:
Sargent, a 56-year-old Rockford man, became emotional Wednesday, Sept. 11, as he spoke about his life-saving transplant, his organ donor and the medical team that performed the rare operation. Fewer than a couple of dozen heart-lung transplants occur each year in the U.S., according to Gift of Life Michigan.
“I was very, very sick. Getting a new lease on life is hard to get your hands around,” Sargent said at a news conference at Spectrum Health’s Meijer Heart & Vascular Institute. “You wrestle with it every day. It has been truly, truly a great ride.”
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