Dad-of-7 misses out on heart transplant after extreme weather cancels flight
A dad-of-7 from the US has missed out on a heart transplant over the Christmas season after extreme weather cancelled his flight.
A 'once-in-a-generation' storm has battered large parts of the US over the holiday season, causing major disruption to the travel industry, amongst others.
And one man who was greatly affected by the storm was 56-year-old Patrick Holland from Alaska.
Holland has congestive heart failure and had been on the heart transplant list for a few weeks until he got a call on 22 December.
Advert
On that chilly Thursday, Holland was informed by University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle that a donor match had been found.
Speaking to CNN, Holland said: "It was terrifying news to hear that I was going to get a transplant, to be honest with you. I was terrified - and then I was excited.
Holland then said he raced to the airport with his brother to get the first flight out to Seattle from Fairbanks, Alaska.
He said that the airport was packed, which was unusual for Fairbanks, and that was because flights were being cancelled as a result of the storm.
Holland then explained his situation to an airline worker, who promised that she would get him onto a plane.
The airline worker stuck to her word and managed to get Holland on a flight, but it wasn't plane sailing.
Due to the weather, Holland's flight was rerouted to Anchorage mid-flight - something the man only realised once he had landed.
He said that the excitement of him getting a heart meant he must have missed the announcement.
Holland said: "I started to panic and all and my worst fears were overwhelming me.
"Because when you hear that, you’re like, there’s somebody donating a heart and I don’t imagine they can wait that long. Because the longer it waits, the longer the tissue decomposes."
At this point, Holland was worried that he wouldn't get the heart, but the transplant coordinator told him not to worry and that the 'heart was for you'.
But multiple flights from Anchorage were cancelled, leaving Holland with not much hope as he told his brother: "I know I’ve lost it, I know I have."
The transplant coordinator then gave him another call, as Holland said: "She was calling me back to tell me they were going to give the heart to somebody else."
Despite the devastating news, Holland tried to look at the bright side as someone else now received a Christmas miracle, while he got to go home and enjoy Christmas with his family.
Callum Jones