Heart Transplant Survivor Grateful for New Lease on Life

By Marty Fisher
John Drewry is getting to know his grandchildren, thanks to a lifesaving heart transplant at Duke. In gratitude, he has given $100,000 to the Heart Transplant Research and Education Fund in the Department of Cardiology. The Drewry family sends thanks to Drs. Joseph Rogers and Carmelo Milano, and everyone on the Duke cardiology team.
Emotion washes over John Drewry every so often as he tells his story.

"It's a common reaction we transplant patients have," he says. "It's hard to control our emotions."

Drewry received a heart transplant at Duke on the first day of spring, March 20, 2008. Just a few months earlier, he and his wife, Diane, had made all the arrangements for his funeral.

"We knew John was probably going to die," says Diane. "We were prepared." After a year of debilitating illness and inconclusive tests at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Drewry, a former naval architect who designed U.S. Navy ships, received the grim diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic thickening of the heart muscle. There is no cure, except a new heart.

By the time Drewry received the diagnosis, he was in a wheelchair and spent most days in bed. Without a transplant, he was told he had six months to live.

"I wanted to live longer than age 65," he says. "My research led me to Duke University and the transplant team headed by Dr. Joseph Rogers."

Drewry called Duke and spoke with a transplant coordinator. He was amazed a few days later when he received a call back. It was late December-almost Christmas-and the woman on the phone said Rogers would like to see him the first week of January.

"Dr. Rogers immediately impressed me," says Drewry. "He made me feel welcome, and he explained the whole situation."

"We thought that transplantation could provide Mr.Drewry with an improvement in survival and quality of life," Rogers notes, "but his age and other medical conditions defined him as a non-standard candidate."

Fortunately, Duke has developed the innovative Extended-Criteria Cardiac Transplant Program, which offers transplantation to individuals who fall outside the traditional transplant criteria by matching them with hearts that have been rejected by other transplant programs.

Drewry agreed to consider it. He and Diane spent the night in Durham to undergo one test he hadn't had. They returned home to Great Falls, Va., grateful for a second chance at a longer life.

The Drewrys arrived at Duke Hospital on Super Tuesday-a special day for the couple, who are veteran election-day volunteers in Great Falls. Diane stationed herself at her husband's side for what would be a grueling seven-week wait in Duke Hospital.

In theDrewry family-which consists of two daughters, two sons in-law, and four grandchildren between ages one and four-Diane, a retired middle school English teacher, is known as the head cheerleader.

"She's always saving my life; she was with me all the way,"says John. A colon cancer survivor herself, Diane donated a kidney to John in 2006.

Drewry's health was failing when they finally got the call that a donor heart was available for him. His transplant surgeon was Carmelo Milano, MD.

"I hoped he would be my surgeon," says Drewry. During weekly rounds, the whole Duke cardiology team met the Drewrys. "Dr. Milano was very quiet, which made himstand out in the Rogers crew. I got a feel for his experience and intellect."

In the OR that night, Milano carefully removed Drewry's diseased heart. A new heart was in flight to Duke. But as Milano began to attach Drewry's aorta to the heart-lung machine, he felt the tissue shredding in his fingers. The aorta was disintegrating.

"They called my family and acknowledged that I could bleed to death," says Drewry. After six hours of surgery the bleeding had not stopped completely, but Milano was hopeful it would stop on its own, and miraculously, it did.

The Drewrys went home in early April to begin what they hoped would be an uneventful recovery. John was getting better every day, and in early June they decided to get away to their log cabin in a remote area on the James River.

Diane suspected trouble when John woke up during the night, feverish and short of breath. In no time, his blood pressure dropped to 80 over 40. She managed to reach the local rescue squad, direct them to the cabin, and accompany John to Obici Hospital in Suffolk, Va. Diane immediately called Rogers, who advised the emergency room physician.

All the helicopters at Duke and UNC were out on assignment, but Rogers managed to find one through a private company in Greensboro. He consulted with the emergency room physician in Suffolk, who started Drewry on IV antibiotics and a respirator and prepared him for transport. There wasn't room in the helicopter for Diane, and she was well aware this might be the last time she saw her husband alive.

"I started to fall apart and fervently hoped he would not die after all we'd been through," she says. "Knowing Dr. Rogers was at Duke waiting for John to arrive made it so much easier for me."

Diane spent an anxious night at home and made the drive to Durham the next morning to find John in intensive care. Everything possible was being done to combat the pneumonia he had contracted.

"It all came to a good ending," says John. "I was extremely lucky."

He has completed cardiac rehab at Fairfax Hospital, is gaining weight, and walks about a mile a day. Best of all, he's getting to be a more active "Grandpops" to Lily and Drew, both three, who up until now have known him only in sickness.

Another grandson and granddaughter, Tyler and Hannah, were born during his transplant ordeal.

"We're looking forward to all the things he can offer our precious grandchildren," says Diane. "That's what Dr. Rogers and Dr. Milano gave us-another chance."