After 50 years, transplants still a miracle
Published: December 30, 2004
Two years ago, Andrew Smith received a heart transplant at UCLA Medical Center.
Today, the 46-year-old is healthy again, thanks to the miracle of organ transplants, which were performed successfully for the first time 50 years ago this month.
“I owe my life to the pioneers of transplantation, the organ donors and the patients who came before me,” said Smith.
Since Joseph E. Murray performed the first successful organ transplant — a kidney transplant — on Dec. 23, 1954, transplants have saved the lives of more than 400,000 people like Smith.
At the time, Murray braved criticism that he was playing God with human lives, but he pushed ahead, leading the way for the first liver transplant in 1963 and the first heart transplant in 1968.
Smith, who met Murray this year at the U.S. Transplant Games, called him and other transplant pioneers “incredibly brave. They did something that was radical and in some cases unpopular, that many people did not want to happen.”
Smith’s transplant story started in late 2001 during a walk at Jalama Beach north of Santa Barbara.
“We had gone up there to camp for a couple of days. I turned to my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and told her I couldn’t walk any farther.
“Up until then I had been pretty active, hiking, skiing, playing golf. I had no serious illnesses,” Smith said.
He saw a cardiologist at UCLA, who told him that he had an enlarged heart and was likely to need a transplant.
By September 2002 the problem worsened. Smith later learned that doctors feared he would die within two months.
“I passed out and my heart actually stopped. They resuscitated me and I was put on the priority list for a heart transplant. They woke me up at 2 a.m. (on a) Monday at UCLA to tell me they had a donor.”
He received his transplant on Sept. 23, 2002, and although he didn’t have any significant problems in recovery, the process was slow.
Smith now lives an active life — playing golf, hiking, skiing and planning for a triathlon in May.
“I’m doing extremely well. I feel great. There’s nothing I can’t do.”
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