The surgery, which took place early Friday morning, Sept. 30, 2005, is the first heart transplant at The Nebraska Medical Center since 1999. Mark says he doesn’t mind being the first case for the new cardio-thoracic transplant team because it meant he was able to stay home for treatment with his wife at his side, his children at home and a support system around him that made a huge difference in his recovery.
"We wouldn’t have done it anywhere else," said Mark and his wife, Deb. "We had to fight to be able to stay here and just two days after the insurance company signed off on it, I was in surgery. It happened that fast."
Mark was listed for a heart transplant on Aug. 31, 2005. His heart had become very weak from cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. The cause of cardiomyopathy is unknown but in Mark’s case it is believed to have been passed down through his family. Living with about 10 percent heart function, Mark wasn’t able to work at his job or actively play with his kids in the weeks leading up to transplant. This otherwise healthy young man first thought his stomach pain and shortness of breath was due to a virus – heart disease didn’t even cross his mind.
"He came to us with symptoms of an upper respiratory infection, not chest pains," recalled Rita Craig, R.N., heart transplant coordinator. "He was short of breath and we knew something was wrong. An echocardiogram showed that Mark had a huge, dilated heart that wasn’t pumping effectively. In short, he was in heart failure."
Less than 30 days after being listed for a transplant, Mark got that middle-of-the-night phone call he had been waiting for. "In the days leading up to transplant, we had been getting wrong-number calls in the middle of the night. So when the transplant team called, we thought it was another wrong number and let it go to voicemail," said Deb Maeder, Mark’s wife. "As Mark put the phone on speaker to check the message, the hospital called back telling us a donor heart had been found."
Mark is the second person to be listed for a heart transplant since the cardio-thoracic surgery program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center reorganized under the leadership of Kim Duncan, M.D., Chief of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and Professor of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery at UNMC.
"I am very pleased with our team’s performance," said Dr. Duncan. "The feeling of ‘contained excitement’ and ‘coming together’ that I witnessed in the OR during the transplant was absolutely incredible."
"It was one of those rare moments where you have people working at 4:00 in the morning and you are hearing giggling and talking," said Dr. Mohammad Quader, lead transplant surgeon at The Nebraska Medical Center and Associate Professor of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery at UNMC. "There was so much energy from the team and such a good feeling about it. It was extraordinary."
The ability to help the local community and provide such a critical service here at home is a source of pride for the transplant team. "It’s important for the public to know we’re here to serve advanced heart failure patients," said Dr. Quader.
The team also hopes to increase donor awareness. "Nationally the trend for heart transplantation is down," said Ioana Dumitru, M.D., cardiologist and heart failure specialist with The Nebraska Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Cardiology at UNMC. "Reasons for the downtrend are better alternative treatments, which are increasing life expectancy among those with cardiomyopathy and fewer organ donors."
"Had it not been for the strength of the donor family we wouldn’t be here," said Deb. "That family didn’t just save my husband’s life – they saved my children’s lives too. I couldn’t bear the thought of them growing up without their dad. There is no way to say ‘thank you.’"
As for Mark, he’s going home – back to his wood shop, back to his job and back to his family. It’s a life that Mark and Deb love and appreciate every day.