Four Years After Surgery, Triple Transplant Recipient Is Going Strong
Michael Gaynor is passing a milestone shared by only one other American -- he is celebrating his fourth year of survival after a heart-kidney-liver transplant.
"It's one of the most complicated transplants you can get," said Helen Te, MD, a hepatologist and liver transplantation specialist who took care of Gaynor.
A total of six such transplants have been performed in the U.S., including three at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Allen Anderson, MD, a cardiologist and medical director of the cardiac transplant service said it's rare to find a hospital that can handle the operation.
Michael Gaynor and Allen Anderson, MD"We have a team involving doctors from different disciplines that can work well together, including hepatologists, cardiologists, nephrologists and transplant surgeons," Anderson said. "We can offer transplantation to patients who otherwise would not get it. A lot of patients who need organ transplants are turned down because of the complexity."
Only one other patient has lived past the four-year mark for a heart-liver-kidney transplant.
"I guess I'm blessed," Gaynor said.
Anderson added, "It's very important (Gaynor has lived so long) because most complications occur within the first few years."
Gaynor, 44, suffers from Forbes disease, a rare, inherited metabolic defect that damages the liver and muscles. The Niles, Ill., resident received the triple transplant on May 21, 2003, after spending almost six weeks in the medical center because of congestive heart failure, and seven months of waiting for the organs.
Surgery teams led by cardiac surgeon Valluvan Jeevanandam, MD, and transplant surgeons David Cronin, MD, PhD, and J. Richard Thistlethwaite, MD, PhD, performed the 14-hour long operation.
Gaynor says the surgery has left him more energetic than he's been in the past 26 years, when he started getting congestive heart failure and had a pacemaker put in.
"(The recovery) is better than I thought," said Gaynor, who noted that he still experiences fatigue. He calls the University of Chicago Medical Center staff "wonderful," and adds that he would recommend them without hesitation.
After Gaynor's operation, he spent about three weeks in the Medical Center, a week at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and then another three weeks at the home of his best friend's mother, a nurse.
Then Gaynor moved home, where he lives alone. He left his I.T. job at Northwestern University and is on long-term disability. Gaynor takes a dozen pills a day and visits his doctors about once a month. He spends the rest of his time reading mystery novels, exercising moderately at the recommendation of his doctors, monitoring stock investments and avoiding getting sick because he's taking immunosuppressant drugs.
"If I see someone coughing, I stay as far away as possible. I have hand sanitizer and a mask. I can't afford to get sick," Gaynor said.
"He's very compliant in terms of his care," Te said. "I want to give him credit for being where he's at. He takes care of himself as we would like him to take of himself."
Gaynor and Rosalind Davis, RN Aside from the ups and downs of routine life, Gaynor also has started a tradition of visiting Disney World every year since his transplant, because he is a self-described Disney fanatic. When Gaynor was still hospitalized at the University of Chicago, he developed a scavenger hunt in the theme park. Seven months after he was discharged, he brought 22 friends and family members to Disney World, where he paid for their hotel stays as a way to thank them for their support. For Gaynor and many other transplant recipients, the support of family and friends is a big part of the recovery process.
"Just seeing (their) kids' faces made it all worthwhile," Gaynor said.
Gaynor said his illness and transplant have made him realize the value of life, so he makes it a point to help others. He offers words of wisdom to prospective transplant patients at the University of Chicago and elsewhere.
"I answer questions and reduce their anxiety," Gaynor said. "There are a lot of things going on in your head -- you've got to manage what's going on at home, bills, making ends meet."
As Gaynor celebrates his fourth anniversary, he said he's thinking about the other patients who have gone before him. He said the prior transplant patients helped doctors improve technology and perform his procedure.
"It's a blessing," he said.
May 2007
