{"id":12323,"date":"2020-04-19T20:03:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T00:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/?p=12323"},"modified":"2020-05-20T19:08:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T23:08:11","slug":"protecting-transplant-patients-from-covid-19-leads-to-delays-in-life-changing-surgeries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/protecting-transplant-patients-from-covid-19-leads-to-delays-in-life-changing-surgeries\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting transplant patients from COVID-19 leads to delays in life-changing surgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the novel coronavirus wave started to roll across Canada, transplant centres had to make difficult decisions: how best to protect patients who need transplant surgeries and create space for COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n

Toronto General Hospital<\/a> is the country\u2019s largest transplant program and one of the top in the world. It is a centre for innovation and care for patients from several provinces, so the decision to scale back surgeries was difficult for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we do a transplant, we put patients on anti-rejection pills and that means really knocking down their immune system,\u201d Dr. Atul Humar, medical director of the Multi-Organ Transplant Program, told Global News. \u201cWe\u2019re very worried if we do that to patients, and then if they get COVID, they\u2019ll end up with very, very severe manifestations of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

It also means that transplants patients could end up, post-operatively, in the same ICU as COVID-19 patients and there would be an increased need for ventilators.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a really unique and unprecedented situation, so we\u2019re trying to do the best we can. We\u2019re taking as many precautions as we can,\u201d said Dr. Humar.<\/p>\n

On March 13, the hospital decided to reduce transplant surgeries \u2014 heart, liver, kidney, pancreas and lung \u2014 unless a patient was rapidly deteriorating.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID-19 seems to also infect the liver and the kidney and the heart. So we\u2019re very concerned about that,\u201d Dr. Humar told Global News.<\/p>\n

In Niagara Falls, Jim Mann received a call telling him his double-lung transplant was on hold, for now.<\/p>\n

To get on the official waiting list is an arduous and precise process. It takes time, numerous tests and appointments.<\/p>\n

Mann, who is living with severe emphysema, needs a transplant, but he\u2019s also worried about COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe COVID-19 is what scares me more than the surgery. They\u2019ve told me if I got that, my chances of survival are very, very minute,\u201d Mann told Global News.<\/p>\n

\"Jim<\/img>

\n\t\t\t\t\tJim Mann is waiting for a double-lung transplant that has been delayed because of COVID-19.\t\t\t\t<\/span>
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\n\t\t\t\t\tLori Mann\t\t\t\t<\/cite>
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Mann and his wife Lori are doing everything they can to keep him safe inside as he waits.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt kind of breaks your heart because we had that hope,\u201d said Lori Mann.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNobody knows how long this is going to go on for. And basically, we\u2019ve been told if he gets this COVID-19 he won\u2019t survive it. And so it\u2019s terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

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John Dennis is being doubly impacted by COVID-19. His wife, Penny is living with dementia and her long-term care home in Halifax, N.S., has residents who have tested positive for COVID-19, so no visitors are allowed.<\/p>\n

John moved to an apartment building next to where Penny lives. He stands outside on his cell phone waving to Penny, who waves back from the seventh floor. This is as close as he can get.<\/p>\n

He is living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, needs a double-lung transplant, and a visit would not be safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s putting your life on hold and just praying every night that it\u2019ll be over soon or that your health will hold until the COVID-19 dilemma is over,\u201d Dennis said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd I can move forward. I\u2019m not going to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dennis is still going through the process of trying to get on the official transplant waiting list in Toronto. At 74, he knows time is precious. His appointments are continuing at a distance.<\/p>\n

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Dennis is an adventurer who once competed in an around-the-world sailing race, so he\u2019s ready for a fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my family to know I\u2019m not giving up the fight. It\u2019s an important fight for me. I\u2019m not going to give it up,\u201d Dennis told Global News.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/img>

\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Dennis is greeted by his wife Penny and daughter Stephanie after competing in an international sailing race in 2002.\t\t\t\t<\/span>
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\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Dennis\t\t\t\t<\/cite>
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Transplants are on hold or reduced at centres across the country, leading doctors who refer patients to be concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there are patients right now who are very unwell and getting sicker quickly,\u201d Dr. Meredith Chiasson, a respirologist with the Halifax Infirmary, told Global News. She adds the waitlist is concerning, \u201cthe number of patients on the waitlist is growing and that will create a backlog that will take a while to clear through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another devastating consequence is that with programs across the country scaled back \u2014 so, too, is the procurement of donor organs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo essentially those organs are not used. They\u2019re lost to the system, which is really another tragedy due to COVID-19,\u201c Dr. Humar told Global News. \u201cIt\u2019s very heartbreaking, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim is still optimistic. His wife Lori says their bags are packed and they are ready for the call. Lori\u2019s sister also established a GoFund me campaign<\/a> to help with the associated costs of travelling and living in Toronto during Jim\u2019s surgery and care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s a fix down the road. \u2026 Hopefully it comes before I can\u2019t go on anymore like this,\u201d Mann told Global News.<\/p>\n

While Mann and Dennis have been waiting, the team at Toronto General and its partners have been establishing safety protocols and testing donor organs for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Close to 20 transplant surgeries have been performed since March 13 at the hospital.<\/p>\n

All the gained knowledge and safety protocols are leading to some renewed optimism.<\/p>\n

Dr. Humar hopes that Toronto General will be able to slowly start performing additional transplant surgeries \u2014 soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the sake of our patients and so that precious donor organs do not go to unused,\u201d Dr. Humar told Global News.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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As the novel coronavirus wave started to roll across Canada, transplant centres had to make difficult decisions: how best to protect patients who need transplant surgeries and create space for COVID-19 patients.Toronto General Hospital is the country\u2019s largest transplant program and one of the top in the world. It is a centre for innovation and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[120,162,161,157],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16396,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12323\/revisions\/16396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}