Alaska resident Patrick Holland’s flight to Seattle for a heart transplant was rerouted due to the winter storm that battered the US last weekend (Picture: Facebook)
A man lost an opportunity for a heart transplant when his flight was canceled due to the winter storm that pounded much of the US over Christmas weekend.
Alaska resident Patrick Holland, 56, received a call from the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle last Thursday informing him that they had found a donor match.
Holland, who has congestive heart failure, told CNN that ‘it was terrifying news to hear’ that he would get a transplant.
‘And then I was excited,’ he said on Thursday.
Holland and his brother rushed to the airport to catch an overnight flight from Fairbanks to Seattle, as he had an eight-hour window to make it to the hospital. When they arrived, they found out it was one of the thousands of flights that had been canceled because of the widespread storm.
After explaining his special circumstance to Alaska Airlines workers, they rebooked him on another flight. But four hours into that journey, the flight crew made an announcement that Holland did not expect.
‘I heard the pilots say welcome to Anchorage,’ Holland told King 5.
The ice storm had grounded all flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, causing the re-route. Holland tried to get his trip rebooked, but three flights from Anchorage were canceled.
‘I know I’ve lost it, I know I have,’ Holland told his brother.
The heart transplant coordinator reached out to Holland shortly after.
‘She was calling me back to tell me they were going to give the heart to somebody else,’ Holland said.
‘I think I cried more that day than I have in my life and had exerted every emotion that I’d never had.’
A Facebook page on his transplant journey informed hundreds of followers that ‘they gave the heart to someone else. Patrick will be coming home’.
Despite feeling devastated, Holland tried to change his perspective on the matter.
‘To get out of that funk, I immediately said, “Thank God, there’s going to be a family that saving someone’s dad saving someone’s brother, saving someone’s, someone’s uncle,”‘ he said.
Holland is keeping his bags packed in case he gets another call soon about a donor match. He is also looking for a place to stay in Seattle so that the weather won’t spoil any second chance he has at extending his life.
‘I will be closer, there’ll be no storms to stop me,’ Holland said. ‘It would take a completely different act of God to stop me.’
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Patrick Holland missed his eight-hour window to receive a heart transplant due to flight cancelations and rerouting.
