SILVER LAKE – Silver Lake resident Pat O’Hara received a heart transplant four months ago after struggling with heart disease for almost 30 years. After years of waiting O’Hara, 60, received his new human heart Nov. 27. He has lost both his sister and brother to the disease. His sister, Joy Young, died April 17 of heart disease, and his brother, Scott, died 21 years ago of heart failure. With help from Methodist Health Foundation, he became Indiana’s first Syncardia Total Artificial heart recipient. This device replaces the functions of a healthy human heart so people can regain their strength and stay alive until an actual human donor heart becomes available. When he first came to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in June 2013 he was extremely sick and weak, with blue fingertips due to a lack of sufficient blood flow. At 59 years old he needed a wheelchair or cane to get around. “The doctors said that my life expectancy was only three to four months and I was losing hope,” O’Hara said. O’Hara’s surgeon informed him he would not tolerate heart surgery with his poor health. O’Hara said patients using earlier versions of the device had to wait for their human donor hearts while confined to a hospital room because their mechanical hearts were connected to a washing machine-sized pump. Instead O’Hara was fitted with a portable heart pump and increased physical activity helped him regain strength and organ function, which would double his chance of survival following a heart transplant. Once he received a human donor heart in November he had a new goal of being home in time for Christmas. He left the hospital on Dec. 23. He said he started cardiac rehab Tuesday at Kosciusko Community Hospital and will go three days a week. “I’m stripping the paint off an antique dresser and fixing whatever breaks around the house – all while waiting for the weather to get better so I can go fishing,” O’Hara said.
