In the fall, I covered a story about Sarah Hyland getting her booster shot and thanking science for her health. Sarah has had two kidney transplants for her congenital condition, kidney dysplasia. Like other organ recipients, she takes daily anti-rejection medications which suppress her immune system and can make covid especially deadly. In that story I mentioned potential organ transplant recipients being denied available organs due to their refusal to get vaccinated. Some have cited bogus “religious” reasons based on misinformation. The doctors who make these decision say there’s a very high demand for organs and that they have to choose patients who have the highest survivability odds.
Up until now, I haven’t seen a high profile case where a potential organ transplant recipient has complained about needing to get vaccinated before getting an organ. Enter D.J. Ferguson, a Massachusetts man whose family is putting the Boston hospital that denied him a heart on blast. Of course they’re fundraising off of this and have already raised over 81,000.
A Boston hospital is defending itself after a man’s family claimed he was denied a new heart for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying most transplant programs around the country set similar requirements to improve patients’ chances of survival.
The family of D.J. Ferguson said in a crowdfunding appeal this week that officials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital told the 31-year-old father of two that he was ineligible for the procedure because he hasn’t been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“We are literally in a corner right now. This is extremely time sensitive,” the family said in its fundraising appeal, which has raised tens of thousands of dollars. “This is not just a political issue. People need to have a choice!”
D.J.’s mother, Tracey Ferguson, insists that her son isn’t against vaccinations, noting he’s had other immunizations in the past. But the trained nurse said Wednesday that he’s been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation — an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm — and that he has concerns about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“D.J. is an informed patient,” Tracey Ferguson said in a brief interview at her home in Mendon, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Boston. “He wants to be assured by his doctors that his condition would not be worse or fatal with this COVID vaccine.”
Brigham and Women’s Hospital declined to comment on D.J. Ferguson’s case, citing patient privacy laws. But it pointed to a response that it posted on its website in which it said the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several immunizations required by most U.S. transplant programs, including a flu shot and hepatitis B vaccines.
In a news segment of Ferguson’s dad on CBS (below), he said the vaccine is “kind of against [DJ’s] principals, he doesn’t believe in it.” People who won’t get vaccinated against covid during a pandemic are also less likely to be medically compliant. If they won’t even take a vaccine, how can they be trusted to take their medication every day? It would be a waste of an organ. I read the GoFundMe and they’re claiming that Ferguson’s heart might swell if he gets vaccinated and that might kill him. No, he is antivax and trying to couch it that way. That’s why his mother is saying the doctors need to convince him. Antivaxxers often put the onus on others to change their minds. “Oh you need to convince me.” No, you need to do what millions of other people have for your health and the health of those you come in contact with. In this case it’s a requirement for getting a precious organ that so many other people could benefit from. Smokers can’t get lung transplants and active alcoholics can’t get liver transplants. Ferguson’s family is dumb but they’re smart enough to try to get some publicity and money out of this.
A woman lost a kidney because she and her donor refused the vaccine. They are cutting off their nose (and heart and kidney!) to spite their face.
Two members of my family have undergone kidney transplants, and my young cousin (who happens to live in Boston) had a heart transplant about 8 years ago. I can’t even describe the amount of hoops they had to jump through in order to have these surgeries. Well… I could, but it would take about 10 hours because the list of required tests and preconditions is insanely long.
Getting an organ is a GIFT. Like the ultimate gift, really. They aren’t just flinging new kidneys into people left right and center.
And if you are truly *lucky* enough to even be eligible for that gift then you need to prove that you will follow all of the rules and listen to every syllable the doctors say. The doctors… you know, those people who are about to OPEN YOUR CHEST CAVITY, TAKE OUR YOUR HEART AND REPLACE IT WITH A NEW ONE?? Yeah, their opinion means much more than your nurse mom’s does. I can’t even believe that needs to be said.
This story has made me want to contact the hospital just to thank them for what they do and for standing their ground in the midst of a media circus. Thank god for the sane adults in the room. And for experts. Thank you, experts.
@ Beenie – I am the same. My mom received 3 organ transplants. 1 from me (kidney) and 2 from a cadaver. It is a GIFT. My mom went through hell to get her first double transplant. And the surgeon left a sponge in her. And he put the kidney in the wrong spot. But I am incredibly grateful she had that time. She would never have had almost 7 years otherwise.
I also want to call out, about 16 years ago a transplant was a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS. And that was 16 years ago. If this guy wants a heart, he’s going to need a lot more than $81,000. Transplants are big business for a reason.
Excellent comment.
This. My best friend got a new kidney a year ago this month. He’d already been living in a well-padded bubble for quite some time and had promise to get vaccinated as soon as they got their hands on vials of the stuff. He’d been in complete renal failure for over two years at that point and was going to dialysis three times a week which as a nerve-wracking experience during the pandemic, especially as he was living in Seattle at the time, also known as US Covid-19 Ground Zero.
He completely changed his diet, quit smoking and drinking cold turkey as soon as he was diagnosed, and kept to it all even as Covid spread. And he did all this in a brand-new city he’d just moved to a few months prior to diagnosis, unable to move back home due to the pandemic and his health.
Organ failure is a big deal no matter what. That we live in an age when there is something modern medical science can do to save your life is a f-ing gift. Getting a vaccine that millions of other people have received in order to LIVE is not too much to ask of a patient. Some patients take their health seriously and some do not. We clearly know which category this man falls into.
I knew a man in his ’50’s who was warned by his doctor to stop drinking or it would kill him. He was an alcoholic who was also a binge drinker. He responded to this news by going on a binge. It was like he couldn’t stop himself because, of course, that’s what addicts do. Later when his liver was about to give out, he tried to get a transplant but was refused. I wasn’t surprised that he was refused and I agreed that it would have been a waste of a liver.
I don’t feel sorry at all, there are conditions to getting a transplant this isn’t new. He didn’t meet the conditions shrug.
Hard agree. To me this is no different than turning down a liver transplant for an alcoholic that refuses to stop drinking. There are so many people that need the lifesaving organ, and it is not fair to hand it out to someone who is very likely to catch a virus that will kill them as a consequence of the medicines they have to take for the transplant to be successful.
Someone should post a go-fund-me for the person next in line for that heart, seeking donations for their life threatening condition and noting the fact that they won’t receive an organ because priority is going to someone who refuses to be vaccinated.
Rejection drugs essentially turn off your immune system. It is vital that transplant recipients get vaccinated. And as for “people need a choice,” this jackass does have a choice and he is choosing to not meet the criteria for a transplant.
Agreed, Mac. He is willfully choosing not to have a transplant, by the simple act of not following the conditions every single other patient who needs a transplant follows. Period. This is not on anyone but him.
Yes to what you all are saying about him willfully choosing to ignore the requirements. He has choices. He chose wrongly. It’s not a political issue, it’s a health issue and following very well laid out requirements. It’s on him.
I think it is a little different. Alcoholics – or smokers or the morbidly obese – have a physical addiction that may take a huge struggle to tackle and a lifetime not to relapse. This guy doesn’t have that. It’s much easier to go and get vacced than it is to stop drinking. No terrible withdrawal symptoms. Make the decision, go get the jab. Easy. The hospital is right.
Is there a difference for a patient overcoming an addiction to get an organ vs. someone bucking up and getting a shot for which they have (what appears to be) a political objection? Sure.
But my point is that our hospital systems have always had criteria for who can get an organ (one of which is to be vaccinated and the other of which is to not be viewed as someone likely to engage in risky behavior that makes the likelihood of survival far less). In that context there is no difference. Ultimately someone is making a choice where the rules are clear.
I have some sympathy for someone whose heart is so frail they need a transplant-he’s probably scared all the time and he’s heard the antivax talking point about heart issues that can allegedly arise after getting a vaccine. I get that’s terrifying for him. But it’s simple to me: stay unvaxxed and off the list and absolutely succumb to the heart issues, or take the chance with the vaccine and transplant. Life’s not fair and this is a way they triage the list.
@Colby
My brother has congestive heart failure and diabetes and was extremely hesitant and frankly terrified to get the vaccine ( he is NOT anti-vax by the way) but after long talks with his doctors and being assured he would do just fine, he is now double vaxxed and doing as well as his health allows.
I mentioned this article to him and while he definitely understands the fear and hesitation, he said that “dude obviously had to read hospital policies and sign off on them, so he is well aware. It’s on him, not the hospitals”
My thoughts exactly. I’m sure the hospital has a list of things that are required to be considered for a transplant and now the COVID vaccine is one of them. He doesn’t meet the requirements.
Yes, I have a friend on the kidney transplant list. He had to go through days and days of medical, mental and lifestyle screening – and, after that, months of various doctors giving their opinions. They want to be as sure as possible that they won’t be wasting a kidney on someone who won’t be compliant.
Yes, the entitlement with these kinds of people is truly MADDENING! I…I just can’t get over the incredible ignorance and selfishness! Awful, awful humans. 🙁
I agree!! I can’t believe they are trying to blame the hospital but it’s due to this moron NOT wanting to be vaccinated. He is an anti-vaxxer!!! You don’t meet the criteria, move on and give it to someone else who needs this heart and who will appreciate it!! As for them running a go fund me, I wouldn’t give them a cent!! Oh, maybe I will donate a penny and in my comments, I will tell them to use it to buy this guy a brain!!
This should show the other anti-vaxxers that there ARE consequences to your inaction!! Such selfishness and utter disrespect to those that had to die in order for the recipient to get one.
“This is not just a political issue. People need to have a choice!” Yes. You do have a choice. You have made the choice to not get vaccinated, and now you need to deal with the consequences of that choice.
Yes, please stand by your convictions but also accept the consequences.
Joseph Conrad wrote “I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice”
I think about that a lot when people are shocked to face consequences of their actions, especially now when the consequences for being unvaccinated and/or unmasked are very very clear and known beforehand.
We’ve been talking about this with our kids SO much lately: just because you’re choosing between two options you don’t particularly like doesn’t mean you have no choice. You just don’t like the options.
Say it louder for the people in the back!
Here in Canada there’s a ‘trucker protest’ because there are vaccine mandates in place for drivers crossing the US border and vice versa. They’re now making it about more than just vaccines (it’s basically morphed into a ‘let’s protest everything’ rally) but originally that’s what it was about. Never mind that only 10% of them haven’t been vaccinated, or that their own unions / leadership is asking them not to do it, they’re protesting because they made a choice and CAN’T ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES. Gah. Makes my blood boil.
Exactly. He has a choice between those 2 options. He just doesn’t like either one, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t making a choice.
I”m sorry for his children, but not for someone simultaneously begging for science and doctors to save him while spitting in their face and refusing to meet the medical requirements. It’s no different than someone needing a liver transplant saying “yeah, but I’m going to keep drinking because it’s my right!” and being denied.
Exactly, this is what is so maddening– YOU HAVE A CHOICE, YOU’VE MADE IT. NO VAX, NO TRANSPLANT.
How is that so hard to understand (I know, it isn’t, it is just a talking point that they’ve found is useful and one they’ve stolen from the reproductive rights conversations and twisted. Argh)
a big YES to your comment about choice. he DOES have a choice, he made it, and is now dealing with the consequences of that choice. don’t like the consequences? choose differently next time.
and as for the other part, how “this is not just a political issue”…well, it’s actually not a political issue AT ALL. or, rather, it shouldn’t be. but your dumbass MAGA president and governors and congresspeople and “news” people MADE IT THAT WAY. get bent, a-hole.
Thank you!!! Extremists hate the personal responsibility aspect of life…it is much easier to cry and blame the other guy for their poor choices..
He chooses not to get vaxxed, so he is off the list. For every action there is a reaction. Just because a person doesn’t like the reaction doesn’t mean it isn’t justified.
This type of thing is happening across different medical specialties and it’s completely reasonable considering the science and data. fertility doctors won’t go thru with IVF if the patient is unvaccinated/gets Covid. Why? Bc the failed transfer is a waste of time, energy and expenses. I don’t think it’s crazy or wrong that he didn’t get the transplant. Heck, Covid or not, doctors don’t go forward with things with a low probably of success. If someone with pancreatic cancer has a low probability of surviving a Whipple procedure, they don’t do it. If a tumor on the brain is highly likely to recur in short order, they don’t resect it. It would almost be inhumane.
If someone is pregnant and not vaccinated and gets Covid, the odds of the mother and baby dying jump significantly (it is really shocking, and there isn’t much coverage on this at all).
Part of the reason is because the virus targets bodily systems that are already in overdrive to maintain the pregnancy.
As far as IVF goes, I’m guessing it is partly that reality, but also because the IVF process involves constant monitoring (2 – 3x a week until pregnancy, and then 1 – 2x a week to 1x a week for 8 weeks) and no one wants to have an unvaccinated person rolling through their office every few days, putting all the other women at risk (particularly the pregnant ones).
This past August a friend of mine died of cancer in her uterus. The doctors never tried to do surgery on her, just did quimio. She had an enormous and very aggressive tumor (16 cm per 8 per 11 – so 6inches per 3,5 per 4)… It was already in her liver also and her lungs.
They just tried to make her last months as comfortable as possible. The quimio was to make it slightly smaller so she wouldn’t be in do much pain in her abdomen.
I’m very sorry for your loss Desdemona
Oh well.
I’m done with this. We are coming up on year 3 of the pandemic and year 1 of vaccine rollout.
Meet your maker and have placed on your tombstone, ‘I left with my rights’.
Exactly.
@Tiffany:
I was going to write a pissed off comment but it turned out I’m actually more tired than angry at this point so I’ll just sit here and agree with you.
…and please, know that you go with our sincere tots and pears.
It’s incredibly unkind of me, I know, but I have to admit that my first thought upon reading this is that we’ve finally found the living embodiment of the phrase “too stupid to live.”
I just have no patience left for these people. Good, fine, great – go ahead, do your thing. Just do it quietly, in your own corner because I don’t want to hear about it. I’d have more respect for these people if they’d stop trying to turn themselves into martyrs.
Either it’s about being true to their beliefs or it’s about going viral and making money/getting views/garnering attention – and every single one of these people I’ve seen thus far has slotted easily into the second category.
Or maybe on his tombstone: ‘I guess I should’ve gotten the vaccine’.
Look, the bad heart is guaranteed to kill you. Isn’t the vaccine the lesser of two fears? Just man up and get the vaccine. And he is antivaxx for sure. He just wants to have things his way and he was (past tense) getting a huge gift that comes with yes, a lot of health rules. I hope he takes a long look at his children’s faces and realizes the mistake he is making.
Seriously. Sick of these brats screwing up life for all of us. They are confusing rights with wants, like spoiled children.
You know what will also kill him. Not getting a new heart because he refuses to get vaccinated because it might cause a side effect. Either way he gets a side effect but the one he’s choosing is death.
With two children and one on the way, no less.
No!! I didn’t watch the entire interview but that’s appalling!! So he is choosing to leave his wife and children due to his selfishness and ignorance. Typical white guy syndrome.
@BothSidesNow
He’s a privileged white man. I’m sure he thinks he can kick up a fuss and get a transplant. They’re used to getting whatever they want
This so much! This guy is worried about how the vaccine will affect his Afib???? He’s got worse problems with his heart if he needs a transplant…the least of which is afib!!!!
As a mother of a child who had open heart surgery at 4 years old, screw these people. This isn’t a game. Get f*cking vaxxed. I would be suing everyone if a hospital were to give life saving treatment to an anti-vaxxer over someone who actually takes their health (and others) seriously.
@Mary
I hope your child is doing well now. Believe me, I would hold your purse while you go scorched earth.
My understanding is that transplant lists are cutthroat. There are a bunch of other things he could have done to get taken off the list as well – this isn’t specifically a COVID issue. It’s just a way to triage the list, and make sure the person who gets the organ has the best chance of living after the transplant.
This guy has my sympathy to *some* degree. He is afraid of the cardiac side effects that antivax media is promoting. I get that he’s scared. I would be scared of everything if my heart was that frail too. But IMO the option is. Lear: do nothing and die for sure or take the chance with the vax and stay on the list.
And it’s probably the simplest of all the requirements. But it’s political in this guy’s eyes, no matter how they try to frame it, so he’s refusing.
I mean, you are trusting them to stop your heart, take it out, put a new one in, and jump start it. You can’t trust the vaccine? Come on.
@Colby -Transplant lists are not “Cutthroat.” As I said above, my mom had 3 transplanted organs. I even gave her my kidney. They have “rules” in place as to not give organs to idiots like this *guy*. You HAVE TO AGREE THAT YOU WILL TAKE CARE OF THE ORGAN. In a transplant surgeon/team’s eyes, he is not taking care of the organ if he doesn’t get the vaccine. End of.
@DeltaJuliet – 100% This. You trust the transplant team to take care of you but you won’t take their advice on the vaccine? Then he doesn’t deserve an organ that someone else would take care of!
Yeah that’s what I meant by “ make sure the person who gets the organ has the best chance of living after the transplant”
Make no mistake I didn’t mean cutthroat in a bad way in this case. They have to be severe to ensure the best candidate gets the organ
Sounds like what he really needs is a brain transplant.
Hi Jo you got one of the comments of the week on the podcast coming out tomorrow! -edit not this comment I just remembered you!
This comment should still get an unofficial CotW! 👏👏👏
Why can Australia have over 90% fully vaccinated and we only have 63%? What are they doing right that we aren’t?
their leaders took this pandemic seriously from the start?
My small country, Portugal, has 94% of the eligible (so anyone over 5 years old) with the 1st dose (we’re vaccinating children under 11), 90% fully vaccinated ( two doses) and 45% with the third dose (I’m part of that 45%)…
🙂 We’re the second most vaccinated country (2 does) in the world…
Good for you!! We have too many idiots and selfish people in this country. They have a mentality that vaccinations are an injustice to their freedumbs, but they are just being political about the entire situation. The percentage of vaccinated Repugnant’s v Democrats is astonishing! But they are only thinking of themselves. The worst part is that they are passing their antics into their children who are too young and cannot get vaccinated without their parents consent. It’s truly maddening and upsetting actually. I am tired of the entire section of society that are choosing their freedumbs!! I think that every public space should be blocked from them. Restaurants, gyms, stores, theaters, and any large public facility. Let them face the consequences of their freedumbs!
I’m Australian, and we don’t have the factionalism that you have in the US. Vaccination isn’t really a political issue here – both sides of government are pro-vaccine and urging everyone to get it (yes, there are a couple of fringe loonies who spread misinformation, but just a few politicians like this). I think once an issue becomes entwined with political views, it becomes easier for people to be manipulated.
I think somewhere around 3-5% of our population are anti-vaxxers. So, they do exist, but just in much smaller numbers.
Same in Canada. We have approximately 89% vaccinated, about 11% unvaccinated, a much smaller group.
So he believes in the science to body swap an organ but not the science of a vaccine which has been around for hundreds of years. You can’t half ass your beliefs. No vaccine no organ. Someone else who will try to keep the organ working gets it. That’s fine.
Yes!! like, how do they decide which medical science is real and which is to be avoided? I would think a transplant is super crazy scary, but they’re fine with that???
Yes!
I read about this on Pajiba yesterday and that was a big point in the story, you trust your doctor to put all sorts of drugs and someone else’s heart in you but not the vaccine that has been administered billions of times at this point????
He also trusts all the drugs (immunodepressants) he’ll have to take for the rest of his life…
The donor program has always been extremely rigorous. They look at your entire lifestyle, not just your vaccinations. But the fact that you have to be fully vaccinated is a baseline, non-controversial requirement. If this is not a political statement then it stems from a money grab. I just can’t see it any other way. This man is fine with allowing doctors to remove a vital organ and replace it with another in an operation that is complex, lengthy, and not without risk. And he’s presumably willing to take a huge cocktail of drugs every single day for the rest of his life. But he’s somehow undone by the prospect of taking a vaccine that has years of development behind its base, is fully approved for use, and has now been taken by millions. Doesn’t pass the smell test.
As the daughter of a donor I would be pissed to all hell knowing someone was potentially wasting my father’s organs. That is a gift of a 2nd chance and if you will not give it your all you do not deserve it.
Absolutely agree – it is an incredible gift and involves the intense sacrfice and expertise of a huge team. The donating family deserves to know that medical standards are followed to the highest threshold, and this man’s attitude is full of red flags and suggests that he would not be a recipient who would make the intense sacrifices necessary for the privilege.
It’s absolutely a money grab which can’t say I blame him. Even the best American insurance won’t cover transplant patients medical bills especially a cardiac patients.
Organs are a rare thing and you should do everything you can to meet the criteria. Having a vaccine is a small thing and if you can’t do that it’s a good sign you will not be a good harbor for that organ.
Bye Felicia!
Well, I’m going to sound heartless, but GOOD! Let the ramifications of their “freedumbs and rights” hit them smack in the face. You want to stay unvaxxed because you don’t believe in the science behind it? Don’t come running to doctors/hospitals to save your sorry ass when you get sick.
With all the medications and protocols you need after a transplant, your immune system is in the basement. Good luck with Covid. Living organs should go to those who have the best chance of LIVING.
Sorry…I’m fully behind the hospital/medical decision to deny these MFs this kind of treatment.
Seriously, I’m at the point where I’m saying put the med. personnel who won’t vaccinate (yes, there are enough of those idiots, fans of TFG republiTHUG sheeples), and let THEM treat their fellow unvaccinated in a *separate* hospital building so they can’t infect anyone else.
@Jan90067:
Better sounding heartless than LITERALLY losing the chance to get one for simply being a certified imbecile, I say.
Agreed.
Most people that i know who are anti vaxx dont even know WHY they wont get it ‘something something the government is either trying to control or slowly poison us.’ And when i ask about all the childhood vaccinations they had to get!? They say they were different or well they didnt have a choice. Not heard a logical explanation yet.
The one I usually hear is ” well this one is too new I don’t trust it”
This is the same one I hear. Spoke to a friend on the phone yesterday who was pretty much done. As in, now they’re telling us we have to be boosted and have 3 shots or we lose our jobs. If we have to get another, I won’t do it. I pointed out the flu vaccine is yearly. I don’t remember what else she said but she was pretty firm in how sketchy these vaccines are but mainstream media isn’t talking about it. Honestly, I don’t know what to say to her. All I said was well I’m going to be first in line for the next booster. Go science! Yay! She also spoke out against big pharma which I agreed with, yes big pharma is an issue, it’s been an issue for a long time. And? I’m still gonna be in line for that boost, baby. Call me when you’re job hunting and let me know how that goes.
Too funny. My coworker said the exact same thing. After three shots he’s “done”. Not getting anymore no matter what.
Whatever.
Of course he’s also “no one can tell me what to do with my body” AND anti-abortion soooo……
My friend just told me a story how his sister’s best friend has been battling covid a month now. She is vaxxed not boosted. She is begging everyone on FB to get vaxxed AND boosted. Her husband really had a hard time with it too, again vaxxed but not boosted. The woman has had fevers and heart problems and just went to the ER. She got the infusion and that isn’t even helping. Everyone is very worried for she is 40, married with kids. These people who are “done” will be crying when they end up like the above story.
Both of my parents (69 and 70 years old) have atrial fibrillation. They are both vaxxed and boosted.
This guy DJ is not “informed” – but it does look like this is the hill he’s choosing to die on. His poor children.
So this man trusts doctors enough to beg them to cut his heart out and put another heart in, connecting all sorts of vessels like a jig saw puzzle. He then trusts pharmacists to prescribe him anti rejection medication and other medications and agree to take them for the rest of his life. But COVID vaccine? THAT’S a bridge too far!
Give me a break! (and may that heart go to someone who believes in science and medicine who will respect the gift given to them)
Maybe I missed this somewhere in the article but what good is the GoFundMe going to do? Unless they’re expecting him to die and the money goes to his wife and kids? It’s not like he can buy his way out of this. Ridiculous and extremely preventable!
Was going to ask the same. He needs a heart transplant and is currently living in one of the world’s best hospitals. Unless he hasn’t worked sufficient quarters, which is possible as he is young, he would be getting SSDI & Medicare. If he hasn’t qualified for those programs through work quarters than he likely is on SSI & MassHealth. And $81,000 won’t go far towards the costs of anything related to caring for a heart transplant patient
Exactly my question – go fund what, now?
I was wondering the same thing. $81k is a lot of money, but not for medical expenses. Maybe it will pay for home health care after they kick his ass out of the hospital and he’s home sick with COVID?
My mother in law had a liver transplant because the person ahead of her on the list with the same rare disease and rare blood type refused the liver because it came from an older person. Without this person rejecting the liver, she would not have made it until another became available. She is celebrating her 15th year of taking anti rejection drugs, of not having a sip of celebratory champagne, of eating certain foods, or having any sugar, so when she dies, someone else can be saved with her liver. I am tired of hearing about this man that will not do everything necessary for a vital organ to extend his own f-ing life, for him or his family. It is not his heart. It belongs to the next person on the list, the one who will do what is necessary for this GIFT. There are simply not enough organs to give to someone who will not follow the rules. If you are not already, please, become an organ donor.
I think your mom is a real hero Maggie.
My apologies Maggie, I meant your mother-in-law.
Unfortunately you cannot be an organ donor with certain pathologies or diseases. I was on the list as I didn’t know that but I had to get out (twice, as the UK put everyone on the list automatically unless you expressively do not give your consent).
SIL has had three kidney transplants since age 16: her mother, my husband, and the latest a donor that she got bc SIL husband (not a match for her) donated his to the program in exchange. And that last one took almost a year to find, while she waited on full dialysis. There are huge waiting lists for every organ – those wanting to live and in dire need. The match criteria is very high and the likelihood of success heavily factored so as to not squander (for lack of a better word) the limited supply. Bringham Womens’ (where SIL happened to have hers) decision in this case is completely aligned with their history. These people need to sit.down. If he’s worried that he won’t survive a vaccine, pretty sure a lifetime of immuno-suppressants wouldn’t be much better.
A good friend had a heart transplant a few years ago. When he was offered the first vaccine this time last year, he was told he would be part of the first 200 transplant recipients to get it in Canada. He told them to call back after the first 100 took it. LOL. But he got his shots and first booster.
To see him before and now after the transplant, he wouldn’t dare risk getting COVID. The new heart added about 40 years to his life span. This man is a fool.
What exactly is the money for?
I don’t understand some of these Go Fund me pages … wouldn’t this be better suited as a Change.org petition not a fundraiser? Feels like a grift.
In Canada, there’s this “convoy” (about 150 trucks) of anti-vaxx truckers raising millions of dollars on Go Fund Me to drive to Ottawa. They’ve convinced people that without them, we’ll have no food and freedom etc. Except, the U.S. government won’t let them cross the border without a vaccine either and 90% of truckers are vaccinated so there’s no risk of supply shortages. Just a grift backed by two individuals with ties to white supremacy.
Although I’m in Canada, so many there are medical expenses this man will need to cover as his health deteriorates.
What exactly is the money for? His funeral.
@Emily:
Feels like a grift because it probably IS one.
The money is probably for the medical bills associated with the LVAD he had implanted on Tuesday. An LVAD (left ventricular assistive device) is a pump implanted in the heart that pumps your blood for you. He now has a power cord coming out of his abdomen attached to a system controller and batteries that is keeping him alive. And unlike what his mother has said, he will be able to shower once him and his family have been given all of the training to care for this type of device once he leaves the hospital. LVADs are used as a bridge to transplant or as a replacement for transplant if the patient isn’t eligible for a transplant.
The man and his family are being absolutely ridiculous. As someone else said, he knew the requirements going in but for some reason feel that he’s a special little snowflake that doesn’t have to follow the rules.
They are just trying in vain to pressure the hospital to change its position, secondarily, it’s a self- serving grift.
This is absolutely nothing new. There are not enough organs out there and they have to make sure whoever gets one will take care of it. And if you trust doctors to literally cut your heart out and install another one, and be on serious anti-rejection drugs for the rest of your life, you can take a shot. It’s that simple.
Exactly. Patients fail to meet criteria all the time, although often it’s because of things beyond their control. But because it’s about the COVID vaccine, suddenly it’s a bad policy?!?
I wonder if they had stage 4 cancer and were offered to partake in a clinical trial of a new drug treatment, whether they would sign up. Often, people with no other options clamor to sign up for those clinical trials. I kind of suspect they would.
Donor recipients are asked to and judged on their willingness and ability to comply with various protocols related to their treatment and ongoing health and wellness.
It boggles my mind to think that a patient would trust medical professionals when it comes to removing organs and replacing them with someone else’s but not when it comes to assessing the risks of a vaccine.
My mother had a kidney transplant and was considered a very healthy post transplant case. She was vaccinated, diligently took her meds and made every doctors appointment. She could not and did not survive covid.
It may be cold but I really am sick and tired of anti vax people thinking their rights come before anyone else’s. To give this man a heart is to deny a family that follows every rule a heart for their loved one who would actually do what is required to keep that gift as long as possible. Because it is a gift it is not a right! I can’t imagine being a donor family and finding out my loved ones life saving gift upon there death was so callously regarded.
Remember a transplant is a treatment not a cure, it comes with a host of other medical issues to keep the patient and organ as healthy as possible.
Also every organ is a gift of life.. donors are desperately needed so please register to donate and let your loved ones know your wishes.
Cessily
I am so sorry for the loss of your Mom.
This boils my blood on so many levels. Here’s your Mom, doing everything she was supposed to do, being extremely compliant and diligent and she still couldn’t survive covid.
Then we have this man baby and his whiny ass family raising money for him so he can adhere to his “rights.”
😠
(as an aside, I am and will always be an organ donor. It’s in my will, it’s also in my physicians directive)
I am so sorry, Cessily.
“People need to have a choice!”
This argument always confuses me. He does have a choice, he’s made it, he’s making choices right now. The transplant team also have a choice, they’ve made theirs. Like the man says in The Princess Bride, I don’t think that word means what you think it means
“People who won’t get vaccinated against covid during a pandemic are also less likely to be medically compliant. If they won’t even take a vaccine, how can they be trusted to take their medication every day? It would be a waste of an organ.”
Exactly. Plus as an transplant patient he’s more vulnerable to covid. The hospital doesn’t want him to get vaccinated so that he has greater protection if he does get covid.
Seriously, if this guy got the transplant, he would be so susceptible to covid once he was out in the world again, and if he got it would probably be dead within a week.
Why does he believe in the use of the organ but not the vaccine?
Because it is always a grift with these people.
I live near this family and my husband was also in his 30’s when the same thing happened to him. He was transferred immediately to Brigham Women’s.
We had 2 very small children. It was very scary but we listened to the heart transplant team and my husband was told up front that there are conditions that have to be followed. It was before covid but there were other things.
Long story short, my husband is doing well and still sees the same team of doctors at Brigham and I am so thankful they have taken such good care of him over the years.
I really wish this family would listen to the doctor’s. They are so fortunate to be at that hospital.
Sorry for the long post.
It hits so close to home for me and I really hope they listen to the doctors and get the vaccine!
I am so glad your husband is doing well. Wishing you and your family continued health.
If he received the transplant heart without having the vaccine, he’d be even MORE likely to catch COVID and possibly die, wasting the heart. Post-transplant care includes the taking of immunosuppressants to try and avert your immune system from rejecting and attacking the transplanted organ! So if he’s one of these nutcases who believes in “natural immunity”, he’ll have none and would likely suffer more severe symptoms if he did contract COVID. Plus, it should go without saying that this Darwin award-winner is not entitled to a transplanted organ! If you can’t follow the rules, you can’t play the game.
Exactly! My aunt received a kidney transplant >25 years ago and has been on anti-rejection drugs ever since. She has other health issues as a result. She had some concerns when the vaccine was first rolled out and spoke to her doctor about it. He was blunt, and said she would die if she caught Covid. Any potential risks outweighed the benefit of the vaccine, so she got it.
When there is scarcity of a resource people will be selective of who gets it.
It sounds pretty clear that the advice of his doctors is to get the vaccine. What more does he want?
Just kidding, I know that what he wants is to do whatever the hell he wants against the advice of his doctors and have them treat him like he’s a special flower.
Does this guy want to die a martyr for the anti-vax movement or something? His choice, I guess. I just feel bad for the kids.
Seriously, how much do these idiots actually love their children? I would endure hell to stay around for my son, I truly don’t understand parents that won’t. Sorry, daddy loves you, but not enough to get the vaccine that billions have successfully taken?
This is where I’ve landed. I know two 38 year old men who died from Covid this past fall. One left behind 4 young daughters, the other died on his daughters first birthday. I feel so so so sorry for the kids, and some for the wives. I can’t imagine what a mindf-ck it will be when they’re old enough to understand their dads could’ve been vaccinated and lived.
He’s not really being denied a heart. It’s just that the heart he would have gotten went to someone else willing to follow the incredibly rigorous program demanded of potential organ transplants.
What’s truly tragic is that this seems to be expanding into a universal anti-vaccine position. We’ve got Republicans calling for bans on any vaccine requirements for attending public schools. Bad times ahead.
When are we going to start calling out Oprah on this? She really was the one who mainstreamed vaccine deniers and the vaccines cause autism crowd in the US by having Jenny McCarthy and others in her show. I was always a fan, but admit this really upset me. She had lots of other medical quackery too. But the anti-vaxx shit seems to have become a major pathway to fascist beliefs in the US. Not surprising, since it’s a purity of bodily essences thing. Oprah has been very quiet on all of this.
Shirley, glad to hear your husband is doing well. What an amazing gift that donor gave your family. I have worked with the transplant unit at the Brigham and they are incredible people doing such lifesaving work. May your husband continue to thrive in their care. I don’t understand why this man is refusing to listen to this team at one of the world’s best hospitals
ETA This response was for Shirley above. I’m having trouble using the reply function sideways.
@Concern Fae, he hasn’t been denied an organ because one wasn’t available while he was at the top of the list. He has now been removed from the list so if one or even four hearts became available today, he wouldn’t be considered for any of them.
Hmm, anyone else watch The God Committee on Netflix?
He would rather die for his moronic “principles” than live with his wife and children.
A person that wants to live will do anything. A drowning man will fight to breath again.
You cannot convince me otherwise. It’s basic survival.
It’s all pretty problematic. I stopped reading about these news stories a while ago and honestly, I’m going to stick to that from now on.
He was not DENIED a heart transplant. He REFUSED to get a heart transplant if vaccination was required.
100% this. he is REFUSING to meet the criteria. thots & prayers.
It is the entitlement of antivaxxers that really gets me. But you can see where this guy got it from. His father is a piece of work.
This would be a good time for everyone to register to be an organ donor or let your family know that’s what you want.
I’m trying to imagine the impact breaking transplant protocols to suit the whims/wishes of this one patient would have on organ collection. How donors and their loved ones would feel if their precious beyond words gift were to be transplanted into a person lowering the odds of success and survival based on personally-held unscientific principles.
The word waste comes to mind.
A word that could cripple organ donation and collection.
Frankly, I don’t understand how this could even be a discussion. That it is in America today is troubling.
Principles, not principals. And let the anti-vaxxer die.
My friend is on the heart transplant list. He is a recovering addict, and when he relapsed, he was removed from the list. They are never going to put a new organ into a person that they don’t think is going to take care of themselves. Thankfully, my friend got his sh*t together and is back on the transplant list.
A good friend of ours received a kidney transplant from his wife a year before covid hit. He’s been doing very well and because they were both double vaccinated and boostered, he decided to take her to Paris for a thank-you trip over the Christmas holidays. Well they both got breakthrough covid, hers was a mild case but he was in hospital for a couple of weeks and is still feeling rough. Lesson learned, if you’ve had an organ transplant your immune system WILL be affected.
This DJ guy is a dumbass of the first order — and it’s not a political issue, it’s a moral and ethical issue. You have a wife and two little children yet your stupid intransigence is going to ensure you end up dead. Your family should ALWAYS come first, not you and your totally misguided beliefs.
Okay y’all, I’m confused…..
He NEEDS a new heart. His heart is already bad. He is currently under near constant medical care / supervision. But, he won’t get vaccinated because it could cause heart problems, with the heart that already needs to be replaced, while he is already being cared for and monitored, which means that if there were an adverse reaction, he is in a better position to survive it because he is surrounded by doctors….. right?
I don’t get it. He was willing to potentially accept all of those drugs that he will have to take for the rest of his life after the transplant so that his body does not reject the heart (and who knows what is really in those), but not willing to accept the vaccine because “he doesn’t know what is in it”.
I guess you do what you need to do to get the transplant or you don’t. It’s that simple.
These idiots think that THEY know more than doctors. Then what is he doing in a hospital trying to get a transplant? Why doesn’t he just treat his bad heart at home himself?
It’s amazing to me how far conservatives will go to manufacture their oppression.
+1000
Is there an insurance policy that the parents are waiting to cash in on? I cannot imagine being this blase about my child’s health. Let’s see how proud they are when they have to bury him and explain to *his* children why their father isn’t around to see them grow up.
Interestingly enough, this will, for the time being, make his wife a single mother. Christian fundamentalists hate single-parent families and always stress the importance of having both parents around. They’re such hypocrites. Guaranteed that when he dies, she’ll go about with both hands out and set up a GFM and milk it for all it’s worth. They hate it when the liberals do it, but when THEY need help, they expect everyone to come running.
NotSoSocialB, You said it in a nutshell. Right on both points. The grift really appeals to this sentiment: “I’m stupid and stubborn. Feel sorry for me. Give me money.” What surprises me is that it WORKS. Can someone please explain why it works? I don’t get it.
“choice” for me, but not for thee. entitled grifters. i read he got an LVAD, which should tide him over, until a pig heart becomes available.
I just read his wife is pregnant with their third child.
“I trust them to literally swap my heart for a new one from someone I’ve never met and know nothing about, but DAMNED IF I’LL LET THEM PUT THAT LIBVAX IN ME!!! Now give me money so I can use resources that people who are actually willing to protect themselves and others could be utilizing.”
Word, full stop.
Another dumbass who doesn’t want to deal with the consequences of his own decisions.
Looks like he is hooked up to an IV. Why would those drugs be less worisome to have pumped through your veins than the Covid vax? Because they have been around a while you say? Well, have you read the laundry list of side effects most drugs have? The commercials are 15 seconds of shining a light on their greatness and 30 seconds of “may cause…….yada yada”. I cant belive this shot is the political hill your willing to die on.
Mediocre white man gonna mediocre white man. I guarantee you that if this were a BIPOC or LGBTQ, they wouldn’t be covering this.
My father is an organ transplant recipient. There are so many hoops to jump through, so many tests, so many criteria to meet before acceptance. And even once accepted there is no guarantee you will find a match. People do every single thing asked of them and still have to wait. What makes this man think he can defy doctor’s orders and still be considered a viable candidate. He’s so concerned about side effects from the vaccine, does he not understand the side effects of not getting a transplant?
I feel for his children. But, there are thousands of other people out there waiting who will do whatever their doctor’s tell them who will make better candidates. If you don’t trust modern medicine to vaccinate you, why on earth would you trust them to put an entirely new organ into your body and prescribe you anti rejection drugs that you will take for the rest of your life?
Precisely. If you don’t trust vaccinations, you have no business trusting the procedure to get a heart transplant either! All medicine is medicine, you don’t get to pick and choose between one or another. Either it’s all good for the goose, or none of it is.
An organ is a gift from someone else. Respect their sacrifice by doing all you can do by taking care of it.
I work at an organ donation organization. Organs must go to people with the highest chances of survival. A non-vaccinated person nonetheless with pre-existing conditions is not a good candidate for a new heart when there are several people in need of one who stand a better chance.
My 22 year old niece passed recently and her parents chose organ donation. I would hate for to think her gift of life would’ve been wasted on an idiot like this.
Didn’t covid get him here in the first place? What a moron, and what’s raising money going to do? They won’t change the rules for a special snowflake, it’s not fair to the other people waiting, and he won’t make it much longer either way. I’m sure the doctors have weighed the benefits vs risk for him and suggested he get the vaccine. What a selfish POS willing to leave his children without a father for a vaccine that medical experts have told him he needs.
I do enjoy reading the comments on the go fund me though, where people leave 5 bucks just to say what an idiot he is, lol.
The links are broken 😞
Let’s just say hypothetically, that this man gets this heart without getting vaccinated against COVID-19. What happens if he then gets covid, and then dies, taking the heart with him? Meanwhile, the literally thousands of people who are on the transplant list, who do their due diligence, who got their vaccine, who waited years for a heart, who could have used the heart this man took and died with, face death in spite of doing everything right.
Why do people who play by the rules, who follow the science, have to suffer for the selfish behaviour of one man? Where is the argument about “personal responsibility” that these smug, selfish, a-holes love to bandy around, almost always in service of some awful argument against why things like universal healthcare are bad? Where is the “personal responsibility” at play here when this man is fundraising $81k USD in support of his flat out refusal to take responsibility of any kind, for his own health, for the sake of his family, or for humanity as a whole?
In an ideal world, we’d have enough viable organs to give to anyone who needed a transplant, regardless of what they choose to do. In an ideal world, the health care system would have infinite resources. Health care providers wouldn’t get tired, wouldn’t have human needs, and could administer to everyone, regardless of how they behaved, bc health care should not be contingent on how you are as a person.
But we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a world marred by deep inequalities of every type. People without money or health insurance die every day, waiting for transplants, waiting for care that they never get. Good people, kind people, wonderful people, die because we live in an imperfect world with not enough resources to go around. They die penniless, in deep debt, leaving behind families that have to bear the burden of grief and everything else on top of it.
This man got $81k for demanding that he get special treatment against every bit of science that states that giving him a heart transplant while he is unvaccinated would be a waste–a waste of time, money, resources, and a heart. I just. I don’t have any words for how this world functions. I really don’t. I just feel sad.
I’m giving you a standing ovation, in my kitchen. Yes, to all of this.
He’s acting like a special snowflake, which is a term I *think* his side of the aisle coined.
Everything you said is perfect except for one thing: It’s a little worse than that–because there ~are~ enough resources. There weren’t for much of human history, but thanks to the wealth generated by fossil fuels there’s currently enough resources in the world to make sure everyone is well-fed and sheltered and receiving good medical care. It’s just concentrated in the hands of a few billionaires while the poor and marginalized suffer unnecessarily.
Nina, I am so sorry for the loss of your niece. I know her organ donations saved/helped many people. So many, I am sure, are very grateful for your niece’s beyond generous gift. I wish you and your entire family peace and healing.
Slightly sideways of the subject: Have any of you seen the videos of an entire hospital staff, standing in the hall and giving love and respect to a donor as they are on the way to the OR?
It’s a very emotional watch to see the respect given.
Ppl are so selfish. ALSO a huge thank you to all the people on here who have lost a loved one and have donated organs, I send my love and condolences to you. Organ donation is a true gift.
I saw a headline that felt more accurate: “Man declines needed transplant to uphold his antivaxx stance.” To me, that nails it. He declined the transplant.
My dad lived 20 years with a transplanted liver. He would have done anything for it.
Organ donation is definitely a gift as many others have stated. Seriously this applies. The requirements are clear. The organ recipient makes the choice to follow the requirements or not. End of. The next organ recipient will make a different (possibly better) choices.
I went into nursing because I saw first hand how beautiful the gift of transplant was, when my uncle received his liver-kidney transplant. We grieved for the donor and their loved ones, and thanked them for their gift every day. My uncle spent two years in the ICU, meeting all the requirements for placement on the list, before and after the transplant.
I have worked as a transplant nurse for eight of my ten years. I sat on the Transplant committee for a tristate area for five years, determining which patient had met the goals and need for advancement. There is a strict guideline we adhere to, to determine that the organ has a high success and the recipient is most likely to adhere to the requirements they will face for the rest of their lives.
Too many times, I have seen an organ rejected by the body, despite the best efforts of the recipient and the transplant team. Too many times, I’ve seen patients who rebelled slightly against our preoperative requirements receive an organ, then return to our hospital in acute rejection, because they missed followups or didn’t fill their anti-rejection medications. A patient who so blatantly refuses the easiest and simplest safeguards to ensure a successful transplantation? They will be a drain upon the overstretched and exhausted hospital system still battling a pandemic. They will likely be back on the transplant list for a rejection, in worse condition, then they are now.
Their donors’ sacrifice and gift, will be in vain.
I’m a bit surprised Sarah Hyland actually got the COVID vaccines. With her anti rejection meds it’s basically useless because they prevent the vaccine from making her body have a sufficient immune response. Where I live we need to be vaccinated to access certain infrastructure so people get it anyways but doctors will tell you it probably won’t do what it’s supposed to when you take anti rejection meds and/or high doses of cortisone.
one word for this: DARWIN