Donor family, heart recipient reflect on Anniston police officer's gift of life
AL.com | The Associated Press
In this Aug. 29, 2011 photo, an honor guard escorts the body of Justin Sollohub out of the Harvest Church of God in Anniston, Ala. Sollohub was shot while on patrol and his donated heart saved Joe Sorvillo's life. (AP Photo/The Anniston Star, Stephen Gross
ANNISTON, Alabama -- We have a heart for you, the voice on the phone said, can you be here in two hours?
Joe Sorvillo felt unprepared.
The Florida man had been on UAB Hospital's heart transplant list for only a few weeks when the phone rang. He had planned to wait six months before getting a new heart. A year, maybe. But instead, on Aug. 25, 2011, he found himself hopping on a friend's twin-engine plane to make it to Birmingham in time for surgery.
At the hospital, medical staffers quickly began prepping him for the transplant. They tested his blood, shaved his body, put him on the operating table. They waited for the heart. They reminded him that, until it showed up, no one was certain it would be a match.
But when Justin Sollohub's heart arrived, Sorvillo said, they knew. Same blood, same enzymes, same size.
"It was perfect," Sorvillo said. "I'm alive because of Justin's gift."
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
In this Aug. 29, 2011 photo, an honor guard escorts the body of Justin Sollohub out of the Harvest Church of God in Anniston, Ala. Sollohub was shot while on patrol and his donated heart saved Joe Sorvillo's life. (AP Photo/The Anniston Star, Stephen Gross
ANNISTON, Alabama -- We have a heart for you, the voice on the phone said, can you be here in two hours?
Joe Sorvillo felt unprepared.
The Florida man had been on UAB Hospital's heart transplant list for only a few weeks when the phone rang. He had planned to wait six months before getting a new heart. A year, maybe. But instead, on Aug. 25, 2011, he found himself hopping on a friend's twin-engine plane to make it to Birmingham in time for surgery.
At the hospital, medical staffers quickly began prepping him for the transplant. They tested his blood, shaved his body, put him on the operating table. They waited for the heart. They reminded him that, until it showed up, no one was certain it would be a match.
But when Justin Sollohub's heart arrived, Sorvillo said, they knew. Same blood, same enzymes, same size.
"It was perfect," Sorvillo said. "I'm alive because of Justin's gift."
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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