Lakeland Woman Slowly Recovering from Heart Transplant
The Ledger | Robin Williams Adams
DIANNE HARNEY OF LAKELAND received a donor heart in July and is recovering at her home now. She is slowly taking on chores she used to do. Even sweeping the floor tires her out, and she still must make periodic visits to Shands Hospital in Gainesville for checkups. SCOTT WHEELER | THE LEDGER
LAKELAND | Over the sound of his wife's tears, Frank Harney faintly heard the words "Shands" and "heart."
He didn't know for a few paralyzing seconds whether the tears meant she had been taken off the list of patients waiting for a donor heart or that a heart had been found.
Fortunately for Dianne Harney, they were because Shands Hospital's transplant team had a heart for her. It came none too soon.
"The last two weeks before the transplant, this woman was the color of white powder," Frank Harney said. "Getting out of a chair was difficult."
Dianne Harney, 65, had been waiting eight months before the call came on July 1. She was the subject of a Ledger article in January about the critical need for donor organs.
On average, 18 people die daily while waiting for an organ transplant.
Every 11 minutes, another name is added to the waiting list.
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
DIANNE HARNEY OF LAKELAND received a donor heart in July and is recovering at her home now. She is slowly taking on chores she used to do. Even sweeping the floor tires her out, and she still must make periodic visits to Shands Hospital in Gainesville for checkups. SCOTT WHEELER | THE LEDGER
LAKELAND | Over the sound of his wife's tears, Frank Harney faintly heard the words "Shands" and "heart."
He didn't know for a few paralyzing seconds whether the tears meant she had been taken off the list of patients waiting for a donor heart or that a heart had been found.
Fortunately for Dianne Harney, they were because Shands Hospital's transplant team had a heart for her. It came none too soon.
"The last two weeks before the transplant, this woman was the color of white powder," Frank Harney said. "Getting out of a chair was difficult."
Dianne Harney, 65, had been waiting eight months before the call came on July 1. She was the subject of a Ledger article in January about the critical need for donor organs.
On average, 18 people die daily while waiting for an organ transplant.
Every 11 minutes, another name is added to the waiting list.
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
Comments
Post a Comment