Celebrating transplant milestones in BC

Marc Bains will always remember the call from St. Paul’s that changed his life.

After living with heart disease for 10 years, Marc learned a new heart was available for transplant. His surgery in June 2018 was a huge success – and also marked a major milestone.

His transplant was the 500th such operation in the province, nearly 30 years after the first transplant took place in BC.

But being part of history can’t compare to having a new and powerful heart.

“I’m excited about the freedom a new heart gives me to live my life. I will be able to play sports again, travel with my wife, attend events, all without struggling from heart failure,” says Marc, who co-founded a heart-failure patient advocacy group.

His procedure was performed by Dr. Anson Cheung, surgical director of the Cardiac Transplant Program of BC, who has performed a third of BC’s heart transplants. “I feel grateful to be part of this milestone,” says Cheung. “That moment when the newly transplanted heart begins to beat is something I never get tired of.”

In 2018, BC set a new record for the total number of transplants performed in a calendar year, at 502. Nearly half of these transplants – 220, in fact – took place at St. Paul’s, which also set a record for the total number of renal transplants in Canada in a single year, at 193.

This would not be possible without the gift of organ donors and their families. In BC, the need for organs still outstrips the supply.

“To my donor and donor family, thank you for the gift you have given me and my family,” says Marc. “You have given me a second chance to live a full life, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”