Transplant Survivors

Monday, November 30, 2015

Sad to have to share that my first transplant survivor I interviewed has passed away. .RIP Harry

8:51 AM Penelope No comments

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, the reason I started this blog was because my friend Harry was going to be having a corneal transplant and he wanted me to start a blog about it. I was happy to create the blog for him despite my own illness and lack of knowledge about transplants, Harry genuinely wanted to help ppl with his story. I told him I would set it up however he wanted to do it but he didn't have many ideas so I told him we could set it up kind of like an interview and we would ask him questions about his transplant in a blog post and share his answers with everybody, well the interview posted turned out quite well I thought and I wanted to continue to add more interviews to his blog from other transplant survivors, so everybody could benefit from this blog and it would make Harry happy and achieve his goal of helping others with his story- but I ran into a major problem- he was my only transplant guest so far on the transplant survivor blog, so I'm asking if any other transplant survivors out there would like to share a post about it on Harry's blog, please contact me if you would like to share your story with the world on my/his blog. I don't doubt it would change many lives to read these stories, we can do the questions completely by email, I'll write down the questions after you give me the name of the transplant your going to be having and then I'll email you the questions and just get back to me with your answers when you get time and I'll create the new blog post, it can be anonymous or we can use your first name, whatever details you want to use is up to you, I know it would make Harry happy knowing he began something small and it turned out to impact many more ppl in a positive way, so if his story touched your heart and you want to share another transplant survivor story, please contact me via email at Ced936@aol.com, by the way Harry did survive his transplant, he just later passed away of a heart attack, I learned it on facebook, his children posted that he'd passed away, anyway he was my friend and a good person, he had called me not too long before it happened and I didn't get to talk to him, he left a message, we just never know what's going to happen in this life from one minute to the next. .RIP Harry

You can share your donor status on Facebook

9:39 PM Penelope 3 comments

We all know the power of social media. Facebook being the king of social media, they have now decided to use that power for good.(lol) Starting May1st, you can now share your organ donor status on your facebook timeline. So get out there and become an organ donor- save lives.

Instructions on how to become an organ donor on facebook:

Organ-Donation-Friends-Saving-Lives by Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg

Q&A with a Corneal Transplant Survivor

9:03 PM Penelope No comments

Question: How did you find out that you needed a corneal transplant?

Answer: When I found out about my corneal transplant was needed from a visit with an ophthalmologist who then referred me to the eye surgeon.

Question: When you found out that you needed to have an eye corneal transplant, were you nervous or scared?

Answer: When I found out that the transplant was needed I was scared to death in part because to the best of my knowledge I am the first person in my family to receive any type of a transplant.

Question: So you decided to go through with the transplant, what was the corneal transplant like?

Answer: For the corneal transplant I requested to be put under by anesthesia so I would not move my eye in any way for the eye surgeon to do the operation so I have very little memory of the procedure being done.

Question: Did you have any negative side effects from your corneal transplant?

Answer: Only side effects as of current is dry eye itchiness and some irritation.

Question: Are you happy that you went ahead and had the corneal transplant and why?

Answer: In a way yes I am happy I had the transplant done because I don't have to turn my head in said ways to be able to look at things but no I am not happy because of it primarily because of the fact that my children and grandchildren may someday have the same problem.

Question: What would be your advice for anyone about to have a corneal transplant?

Answer: My advice for anyone considering getting a corneal transplant, do do it but know it can vary from person to person for the healing and said percentage of vision returning to normal with a good chance of the possibility in the future eye glasses may be needed and not to be afraid of getting it done even though it will be a life changing ordeal as it has been for me.

Thanks for answering our questions Harry, I know your story will help someone else.

Harry, Eye Corneal Transplant