‘Heart-in-a-box’ technology lets Canadian organ donor save a life – CBC
Donation advance will expand cardiac transplants, doctors say
May 16, 2024
Lorraine Sherren says what’s holding her together as she and her husband grieve the death of their 40-year-old son is knowing he was able to donate his heart, with some out-of-the-box thinking.
Robbie Sherren was a Special Olympics bowler, Trekkie and computer whiz, his parents said. What started as a trip to the emergency department on April 25 for seemingly just a sprained ankle wound up with him collapsed in the ER, no longer breathing, experiencing an aneurysm and almost 100 tiny strokes.
His mother was devastated when doctors initially told her Robbie wouldn’t be able to donate his heart because she knew how much it would’ve meant to him. He had been donating blood for decades.
“He was just a special man with an infectious smile,” she said.
“Everybody liked him, he never got into any trouble,” his father, Derk Sherren, said of their red-headed son who chose to live at home.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/heart-transplant-kingston-first-1.7206871
