Alaska Father of 7 Gets New Heart After Winter Weather Caused Him to Miss Scheduled Transplant

Patrick Holland had to wait nearly four months for another viable heart to become available after he missed a flight because of weather on his way to undergo heart transplant surgery

An Alaska man who spent months waiting for a transplant has finally received his new heart.

Patrick Holland, a 57-year-old father of seven with congestive heart failure, was originally scheduled to receive a heart transplant at Seattle's University of Washington Medical Center in December, according to CNN. However, when winter weather grounded all flights, his heart was given to somebody else.

That same week, he decided to temporarily move to Seattle so he wouldn't "miss another chance," he said during an interview with Alaska Public Radio.

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After waiting for almost four months, a viable heart became available, and so on Mar. 30, he finally had his transplant.

"It really didn't feel real," his wife Haley told CNN, adding that she "barely had time to tell him that I loved him" before he needed to be intubated for surgery.

Haley and the kids arrived in Seattle the following morning "just in time to receive an update call from the surgeon as Patrick's transplant was completed," his wife wrote on a GoFundMe page.

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Since then, Haley says that her husband "is slowly recovering."

"He has ups and downs - minor setbacks such as needing a second blood transfusion since his numbers were low, and his nausea and discomfort ramping up," she wrote on Monday in a GoFundMe update.

In another update shared on Facebook that day, Haley asked for prayers, and on Tuesday, she wrote that after undergoing a biopsy and having his pacemaker removed — which "went off without a hitch" — her husband began experiencing "some discomfort."

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"It wasn't long before the transplant surgeon called and told me Patrick had lost a significant amount of blood," she wrote, adding that doctors were not immediately able to find any "obvious cause," but were keeping an eye on him.

"Thank you for the prayers and positive thoughts," Haley wrote.

When interviewed by CNN last week, Patrick's cardiologist said that although "there's always a few bumps in the road with surgeries like this," he was "generally trending in the right direction."

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The fact that her husband, who has experienced complications since having a "massive" heart attack in his 20s, feels "like a miracle," to his wife.

"It just makes you cry because this isn't the heart that he was born with," she told CNN. "It's very touching and it's miraculous that Patrick now has this new heart that he'll be able to enjoy life with."

They're also appreciative for all the support they've received along the way.

"You have helped us get through the single hardest time in our family's young 18-year history," Haley wrote in Monday's GoFundMe update. "We couldn't be more grateful."

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