A 25-year-old Lithuanian who underwent a heart transplant spoke up: he told me how he feels



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Mantas, who lives in Kaunas district, says he was born with a complicated heart defect. For most patients, a heart defect can be corrected, that is, to restore the normal function and anatomy of the heart, but there are cases, such as Manto, in which this is not possible. Therefore, when I was a child, the blood flow of a ventricle was formed, the so-called Source, a circulatory circuit was created.

Doctors say that for some time such a solution saves a person’s life, but in the long run, such blood circulation exhausts the body, blood pressure affects the organs and other parts of the body, until finally the only solution remains to help the patient and save his life – heart transplant. The same thing happened to Mantas.

“Although the heart was working well in Fontan’s bloodstream, I eventually developed protein-losing enteropathy and had more difficulty leading a normal life, especially in the last 4 years,” the young man tells the SAM National Transplant Office.

With the gradual increase in medical procedures and the deterioration of health, the young man was included in the list of recipients waiting for the heart. It did not surprise him. With the idea that sooner or later he will need a heart transplant, doctors have used him since he was a child. “Until then, I was living quite well, I graduated from school and university, but with a master’s degree the studies had to be stopped. After health deteriorated, it was no longer possible to reconcile science and continuous treatment, ”Mantas recalls the stage in which his health deteriorated significantly.

So last summer, after receiving a suitable donor heart and 20 years after the formation of the Fontana bloodstream, a boy underwent heart transplant surgery at the Santara clinics of the Vilnius University Hospital. After transplanting a strong donor heart, the atypical blood flow was restored to normal.

It escalated a couple of months after the transplant.

The young man says he never doubted the transplant. “I didn’t see anything wrong with that, I was never afraid of transplants. I have several friends who have also had heart transplants, I met them in the children’s ward of the Santara clinics, where I practically grew up,” recalls the boy from his childhood in the hospitals.

Mantas was invited to the transplant by doctors on three occasions. It could not be transplanted for the first time. The first time you had a leg infection, the next time you had the flu. “Sometimes the thoughts were ambiguous,” he admits. – They warned me and I knew it could be, but it was very sad. I realized that I would have to wait, and at that time it was very difficult to live. “

Happy was the third medical call. “It just came to our attention then. After receiving a fatal call, I had lunch, and when I woke up after the operation, the doctor said that I would complain to her that I had been removed from the table. I myself do not remember this reproach.” Mantas laughs and explains that his normal memory returned to him about two days after the operation.

Still, he remembers the important first awakening after anesthesia quite clearly: “My first thought was that if I woke up, everything was probably fine, I survived. Then I asked the staff if he was right, and when I informed them of the good news, I was reassured. “

Mantas admits that although he was used to the need for a transplant, at the crucial moment he was anxious to know if everything would work out:

“But I was focused and everything went well. I recovered quite easily. The most difficult part was when they transferred me from reamination to the apartment where I already had the opportunity to move. In the first days my legs were shaking, it was difficult for me, but I did. I tried and moved. ” The man was able to take care of himself only while he was in the hospital, and when he went to the sanitarium, he became even stronger. He returned home 2 months later. It is true, a completely different health condition than the one he had when he left.

After the transplant, the body was completely strengthened.

Mantas laughs that throughout his life, hospitals have been bitten by a living bone. Now you just have to visit them for preventive inspections. “Before the transplant I had all kinds of infections because I had practically no immunity. After the heart transplant, the infection does not stop, ”says a Kaunas resident in a press release on comprehensive body strengthening.

He says that he is finally living a normal life and that the only thing limiting his activities is a pandemic. “Before, I couldn’t train with exercise machines, for example, because it was too hard work on my heart, and now I can afford it. I strengthen the body and I am happy about it, ”says the man.

You want to live a normal life for others.

“I understand that all this would not be possible without the decision of the donor’s relatives. So I really thank this family for giving me the opportunity to have a quality life. I understand that there are also moral things when making a decision – Mantas thanks for the difficult words. – I would also like to thank the cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and the rest of the staff at Clínicas Santara. I am infinitely grateful to the staff of the three cardiac surgery departments, as well as the intensive care units. “

The twenty-five-year-old man says that in the face of a heart transplant, the fragility of life opened completely different possibilities and perceptions: “Now I can afford more, but life plans are different. Now I want to live a life that I couldn’t before.

Since I already had a congenital heart defect at school, I felt a certain difference from my classmates. For example, I did not attend physical education classes, but I wanted to be like everyone else, participate with everyone. But I couldn’t do it physically. “

So now Mantas wants to live a normal life for everyone. In your immediate plans, even in the simplest job search. You also learn programming so you can gradually retrain in your favorite field of work.

Heart transplants are less common

Mantas, who has undergone many surgeries since birth, hopes that the most difficult heart transplant operation will be her last.

“Transplantation is an extension of life. Now I can say from experience that the quality of life after that really changes. Now the medicine is so advanced, says a guy who knows the medical possibilities from his own experience. – I think so it can give a person an opportunity like an organ transplant, we must seize the opportunity. And if donation can make life easier for at least one person, then it is very important. “

The SAM National Transplant Office indicates that around one hundred and a half different organ and tissue transplants are performed each year, but only about 10 of them receive heart transplants. Mantas is one of the youngest people to receive a priceless gift last year: a healthy donor heart and, with it, a second chance not only to live a quality life, but also to live in general.

Three heart transplants have already been performed in the first months of this year.

Any adult resident of Lithuania can express their support for organ donation by signing a consent for their organs and tissues to be removed and donated for transplantation after death. This can be done online at https://ntb.lt, medical institutions, Eurovaistinė pharmacies. After signing said consent, the person receives a symbolic donor card.



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