Midge Rollins
07-11-2009, 10:28 PM
Just a great story on how transplantation does work.
Heart transplant recipient beats the odds, turns 50
By Ben Fornell
News correspondent
(Unknown address)
Emerson Martin
When he was 25, Emerson Martin was supposed to have just one more birthday.
Doctors said the North Liberty man would need to undergo the state’s first-ever heart transplant operation, or he would die. They gave him an even chance to survive the first year. Today, Martin turns 50, and has lived as many years with a heart he wasn’t born with as with it.
“It’s unbelievable, nobody talked past five years,” Martin said.
At the time of the procedure, Martin had two young daughters who hadn’t entered grade school yet.
“My long-term goal was to see them through high school,” he said. “Now I’m a grandpa, and I never thought I’d see that.”
Martin will be celebrating tonight at Meskwaki Casino in Tama with family and friends. He feels today’s date — 7/11 — is lucky. Some in his family might be rubbing Martin’s heart, though, before they toss the dice.
Heart transplant patients have a 41 percent chance of living 15 years after their operations, often succumbing to coronary artery disease and cancer brought on by drugs they must take which lower their immune systems, according to Dr. Douglas Behrendt, former chairman of the cardiovascular surgery department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Often patients must have a second, or even third, transplant to hope to survive as long as Martin has, Behrendt said.
“Other people have done it, but it’s very unusual,” he said.
Martin has seen complications from the procedure, including brittle bones and a bout of kidney cancer about 10 years ago. He said that he counts each day as a new gift and tries to let the little things roll off his shoulders.
“I used to be a Type A personality like you wouldn’t believe,” he said. “I’ve learned that things will come, and to just relax.
“I never worry — life is about family and friends. When my twin grandsons come over, you can’t put a price on that.”
Heart transplant recipient beats the odds, turns 50
By Ben Fornell
News correspondent
(Unknown address)
Emerson Martin
When he was 25, Emerson Martin was supposed to have just one more birthday.
Doctors said the North Liberty man would need to undergo the state’s first-ever heart transplant operation, or he would die. They gave him an even chance to survive the first year. Today, Martin turns 50, and has lived as many years with a heart he wasn’t born with as with it.
“It’s unbelievable, nobody talked past five years,” Martin said.
At the time of the procedure, Martin had two young daughters who hadn’t entered grade school yet.
“My long-term goal was to see them through high school,” he said. “Now I’m a grandpa, and I never thought I’d see that.”
Martin will be celebrating tonight at Meskwaki Casino in Tama with family and friends. He feels today’s date — 7/11 — is lucky. Some in his family might be rubbing Martin’s heart, though, before they toss the dice.
Heart transplant patients have a 41 percent chance of living 15 years after their operations, often succumbing to coronary artery disease and cancer brought on by drugs they must take which lower their immune systems, according to Dr. Douglas Behrendt, former chairman of the cardiovascular surgery department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Often patients must have a second, or even third, transplant to hope to survive as long as Martin has, Behrendt said.
“Other people have done it, but it’s very unusual,” he said.
Martin has seen complications from the procedure, including brittle bones and a bout of kidney cancer about 10 years ago. He said that he counts each day as a new gift and tries to let the little things roll off his shoulders.
“I used to be a Type A personality like you wouldn’t believe,” he said. “I’ve learned that things will come, and to just relax.
“I never worry — life is about family and friends. When my twin grandsons come over, you can’t put a price on that.”