A man who was on his way to receive a heart transplant had his flight turned around mid-air due to bad weather, losing him the time-critical opportunity for the operation.
After the wait for a suitable donor, Patrick Holland, 56, who has congestive heart failure, received a call to inform him that a match had become available. Mr Holland said it was initially "terrifying news to hear" but added he was "excited" to get the opportunity for a transplant.
The hospital told Mr Holland he had an eight-hour window to get to the hospital in order for the transplant to be carried out. But that was when things started to go wrong for him, it was reported in the Express. After racing to the airport with his brother, he was informed his three-and-a-half-hour flight had been cancelled due to terrible weather.
However, after explaining the circumstances to airport staff, he was booked on another flight and took off, still with time to spare. But four hours into that flight, cabin staff had to announce that instead of heading for the hospital at the University of Washington Medical Centre in Seattle, the plane had to divert to Anchorage in Alaska, just 250 miles from his home.
A Facebook page detailing his transplant journey broke the bad news, stating: "Patrick just called. They turned the plane around and are landing in Anchorage. The storm was too bad in Seattle. I will update again when I know more."
Mr Holland did try to board another flight from Anchorage but once again bad weather intervened, preventing any planes from taking off. Mr Holland called to tell his brother: "I know I've lost it, I know I have."
Shortly afterwards came the call from the hospital that Mr Holland had been dreading — that surgeons would have to give the donor heart to another recipient. Mr Holland told CNN: "She was calling me back to tell me they were going to give the heart to somebody else. I think I cried more that day than I have in my life and had exerted every emotion that I'd never had."
However, he later reflected: "Thank God there's going to be a family saving someone's dad, saving someone's brother, saving someone's uncle."
Now, it is understood Mr Holland, from Fairbanks, Alaska, is looking to stay in Seattle, 1,500 miles from home, to make his journey to hospital quicker and easier next time a suitable donor heart is available. He said: "I will be closer, there'll be no storms to stop me. It would take a completely different act of God to stop me."
A GoFundMe page to help him pay for his stay while he waits for his chance at a heart transplant in Seattle has so far raised more than $8,400. It is understood via a family Facebook update that following local publicity about his missed opportunity, "someone reached out and offered him an arrangement that we felt specifically suited his needs. We are grateful and extremely relieved".
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