Mark Hamilton, Matt Holgate and teenager Kenzi Christiansen don't know each other. But they have one life-changing thing in common: Each lives because of a heart transplant.
Friday, they were among dozens of heart transplant patients gathered with heart doctors and well-wishers at LDS Hospital to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Utah Cardiac Transplant Program, a collaboration that includes University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Primary Children's Medical Center, the VA Medical Center and LDS Hospital.
The program has transplanted 887 hearts. Of those transplanted in the program's first year, half are still alive, a fact Dr. Dale Renlund, program director and head of the heart failure program at LDS Hospital, calls "remarkable."
The collaboration eliminated duplication of services, saving both money and lives. It has "success unsurpassed by any program in the world," Renlund said.
A representative from each of the four hospitals was given an award by one of the hospital's transplant doctors and a patient who had either received a heart in the facility or was waiting for one.
Such a partnership and pooling of expertise and resources among programs that normally compete is "significant and something that should happen in other arenas," said Primary's administrator, Joe Horton.
Hamilton, a professor of architectural history at Brigham Young University, received a heart at University Hospital four years ago, after a couple of heart attacks, heart failure and an artificial heart pump. "It's a humbling experience," he said, noting he would not have lived to see three of his four grandchildren without the gift of a heart from a family that had lost someone they loved.
Christiansen, 16, a junior at Alta View High School, received a heart at Primary Children's last September. She was unusual because she was only listed on the transplant waiting list for six days before a suitable heart was found.
The opposite has proven true for Eugene Pearson, who presented one of the awards. He has been on the list for 18 months and is still waiting. He moved to Utah about a year ago from Montana to be closer for a transplant at the VA.
Holgate received his heart at LDS Hospital in July, along with a "whole new lease on life."
E-mail: lois@desnews.com