HCV + ORGAN TRANSPLANT PROGRAM EXTENDS TO HEART AND LUNG PATIENTS
On the afternoon of April 25 , 2018 , Colin Tucker felt as though a railroad spike was being shoved through his chest . He was taken to his local hospital , where doctors found four blockages in his heart .
HEART TRANSPLANTATION
Tucker was having a heart attack , and 99 % of the main artery that supplies blood to the largest portion of his heart was blocked . After months of unsuccessful treatments , procedures , and medications , he was sent to UAB Medicine , where he was placed on the transplant list and received a ventricular assist device ( VAD ) to pump blood from the chambers of his heart to the rest of his body .
Just over two years later , Tucker became UAB Medicine ’ s first heart transplant recipient from a hepatitis C-positive donor . It is part of a new organ transplant program at UAB , by which doctors safely transplant organs from hepatitis C-positive donors into uninfected recipients and cure the hepatitis C with antiviral therapy . It began with liver and kidney transplants but now has been expanded to include heart and lung transplantation .
Colin Tucker Credit : Image shot by Colin Tucker
“ With so many people in need of an organ transplant , this program allows us to use perfectly functioning organs to offer our patients improved quality of life ,” says José Tallaj , MD , medical director of UAB ’ s Heart Transplant Program . “ Now that the treatment for hepatitis C is simple , extremely effective , and needed for only a short period of time , organs from donors with hepatitis C are a great option for patients like Mr . Tucker , who had been waiting for a long time to get an organ .”
Organ size , donor location and medical urgency are a few of the factors that UNOS considers in determining heart allocation . Tucker , who is 6.5 feet tall , performed well with the VAD and was able to participate in a 10K and a 12K race while on the device . Tucker ’ s height and great performance on the device led to a 28-month waiting period for a heart .
“ When I got the VAD , I had to make a personal choice to not let it keep me from living my life ,” Tucker says . “ I live in a coastal town and had to give up some of the hobbies I loved , like fishing , swimming , boating , and even some traveling , because of the VAD . This was difficult , but I was not sure when a heart would become available , so I adjusted to this new way of life as best I could .”
Tucker ’ s wait finally came to an end when he received a call from UAB in October 2020 and was asked whether he ’ d be willing to receive an organ from a hepatitis C-positive donor . He agreed and received his new heart the next day .
“ When I received the call about the heart , they told me it came from a hepatitis C donor and explained to me how my risk of getting hepatitis C was extremely low ,” Tucker says . “ It was no longer a question of whether or not it was safe ; it was a question of how soon I could get it . This was the only call I had received about a donor heart in two years , and here I am now , almost a year later , and doing fantastic .” uabmedicine . org 15