INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT Healthcare
“My wife, Judy, and I were contemplating
the fact that we were getting close to the end
of our stay, when the doctor came in,” Filer remembers. “He said, ‘You are going to be very
busy tonight.’ That’s what the doctor told me
that Friday night.”
Filer’s physicians
warned him that
they wouldn’t know
for certain that the
transplant could happen until the heart
was evaluated by
Dr. McKinnon and
found to be suitable
for him. Filer and
his wife called family and friends, including their daughter, Anne, keeping
their minds off the
impending surgery
by staying busy
on the phone and
spreading the news.
Meanwhile,
organ
donation teams were working with several
different care teams to coordinate the harvesting of other organs that the donor would
be giving to other patients in need.
“It is a complicated process getting this all
coordinated,” explained Dr. Peltz, surgical
director of Cardiac Transplantation at UT
Southwestern. “We are just one organ out
of potentially multiple different organs from
a donor. For the organ bank, it’s a complicated process getting this organized. Often,
there are flights, ambulances -- many types
of transportation involved. This goes on for
the lung team, liver team, pancreas, intestines, etc. Logistics are quite involved for the
organ bank and getting all these people in
the right place at the right time to maximize
the number of organs we are able to procure
from a donor.”
The donor’s heart was deemed a match for
Filer, and he was taken to the OR at St. Paul
to be given a new lease on life through the
gift of organ donation. Dr. Peltz removed the
diseased heart, replacing it with the donor’s
heart in Filer’s chest. Once blood flow was
started, the heart began beating on its own.
Under the watchful care of the cardiac teams
at St. Paul, Filer began a successful recovery
that, he says, couldn’t have gone better.
“There are three things that make a heart
transplant successful,” Filer said. “One, a donor family. I cannot say enough about them;
second, supportive family and friends; and
third, a wonderful group of medical professionals. We had
all those. They had
our back.”
Today, more than
a year out from
his successful heart
transplant, this 70year-old grandfather
of four keeps himself busy with his
family and friends,
swimming, hiking,
as well as his work,
which
he
finds
rewarding.
“It has been incredible. I wake up
most mornings and
pinch myself because
Wes and Judy Filer.
I want to make sure
I’m living this dream.
When talking about the life-giving decision that the donor family made to donate
their loved one’s organs, Filer is moved
beyond words. He has written the family a
letter through the Southwest Transplant Alliance, and he hopes to one day express his
appreciation in person.
“I can’t say enough,” he says. “It’s very
emotional for me. There’s no doubt that I
would not be alive if not for that donor family
and great medical professionals. I could not
be more proud of the work of the people at
UT Southwestern.”
“I think the real heroes here are the donors and the families that make that happen,” said Dr. Peltz. “It’s a decision that the
families make that can impact many lives, in
a time when they are in distress and grieving.
The decision is very special. Texas has one
of the fastest-growing donor registries in the
country. I think if someone wants to be an
organ donor, they should join the registry.”
Smiles all around with
Wes’s grandchildren.
46
www.ntc-dfw.org
Winter/Spring 2015
Dr. Peltz and Wes Filer ask that everyone
who reads this story consider the miracle of
organ donation. To learn more about organ
donation and how you and your family members can make your wishes known, please
visit www.DonateLifeTexas.org.