bittersweet

[Robert F. Smith]

June 9, 2007
Patient Gets Transplant Despite Crash 
By NICK BUNKLEY
ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 8 - A man whose lung-transplant operation was aborted
after the plane carrying the organs from Milwaukee crashed into Lake
Michigan this week, killing six people, is recovering after receiving lungs
from another donor.

Doctors at the University of Michigan said Friday that in a seven-hour
operation late Wednesday they successfully transplanted a set of lungs from
a new donor into the 50-year-old man, whose severe emphysema was causing the
right side of his heart to fail. They would not identify the donor or the
patient, who remained in critical condition on Friday.

After the first transplant attempt on Monday, when doctors opened the
patient's chest before getting news of the plane crash, his condition
deteriorated considerably and he needed a ventilator to breathe, said Dr.
Andrew Chang, the university's surgical director of lung transplants. While
increasing the urgency of the operation, his worsening condition also raised
his score that determines priority for receiving organs when a donor becomes
available.

"Had he not received transplants in a timely fashion, he would have died,"
Dr. Chang said at a news briefing here on Friday.

The man had been on the waiting list for a set of lungs since last fall.
People who undergo a lung transplant typically have an 80 percent chance of
surviving for at least one year and a 40 percent to 60 percent chance of
living more than five years, Dr. Chang said.

Dr. Jeffrey Punch, director of the university's transplant program, said the
surgery had helped restore a feeling of normalcy to his team, which lost two
of its 15 surgeons, two organ transport specialists and two pilots in Monday
afternoon's crash. The six men had flown to Milwaukee that morning to
retrieve a set of lungs from a 48-year-old female stroke victim. They had
just begun the 227-mile return flight when the pilot reported losing control
of the plane and it slammed into the water.

Doctors at the university were alerted late Tuesday that another donor had
been found. The lungs were removed from the donor and flown on a chartered
plane to an airport east of Ann Arbor, then to the university hospital on a
Survival Flight helicopter. It was a process similar to what was supposed to
have occurred Monday, except that this time the university did not send its
own team to remove the organs because in light of the crash, the donor's
hospital had offered to remove and package them. Officials would not say
where that hospital is located, although they hinted that it was outside the
Midwest. They said the donation followed the normal procedure.

Dr. Chang said the patient knew he did not receive the original set of lungs
intended for him but was not aware of the crash.

In Milwaukee, divers continued to look for remnants of the Cessna 550
Citation II, a twin-engine jet with eight seats, and its occupants' remains.
High winds and thunderstorms have hindered the search.