Organ transplantation has come a long way in the past decades. Take heart transplants for example. It used to be that only people under age 50 could get them and they were fairly risky. Now people in their 70’s are having transplants and transplant patients of all ages are living longer and feeling stronger.

“I enjoy doing wood work,” says Bob Aronson.

Model ship building doesn’t look strenuous, but when Aronson’s heart was failing because of a disease called cardiomyopathy, any activity was too much.

“I couldn’t do anything any more other than sit in front of the TV and sleep,” says Aronson.

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle. It causes your heart to become weak until it can’t pump efficiently. Medications may help, but in severe cases like bob’s, the only option is a heart transplant.

Aronson says, “I’m some kind of a miracle. I was only on the list for 13 days.”

Aronson was lucky because there are not enough donor organs to meet demand. At any given time there are 10,000 people waiting for organs but only a quarter of those people get transplants. But Dr. Jeffrey Hosenpud says there is some good news -- fewer people are dying while waiting.

“We’re using mechanical pumps to keep patients alive while they’re waiting for their transplants,” says Mayo Clinic Cardiologist Dr. Jeffrey Hosenpud.

And more good news is that transplant patients are living longer.

“When I started in the mid-80’s our outcomes were in the 70 to 80-percent one-year survival rate. Now the expectation is that there should at least be a 90-percent survival rate,” says Dr. Hosenpud.

But the reality is more donor organs are needed to save the lives of people like Bob Aronson.

“That donor and his family, they gave me my life back. I was dying and they gave me my life back,” says Aronson.

The two most common causes for heart failure resulting in the need for transplantation are cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease.

If you want to learn more about Bob Aronson and his desire to spread the word about organ donation, check out his blog.
For more information about heart transplants and organ donation, visit the Mayo Clinic Website.