Saving lives against the odds
It was like a scene from a movie: Charles Cook’s car drove off the road and was airborne, then dangerously skidded across multiple lanes before coming to a stop. Had a passerby not seen the wreck, Charles could have died that day.
The dramatic car crash was caused by a stroke due to a condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease that causes the muscle of the heart to thicken, restricting blood flow and affecting the heart’s rhythm.
Charles was diagnosed with HCM as a teenager, but the disease lay dormant until the crash. The next 10 years of Charles’ life were filled with life-threatening complications related to his HCM.
Finally, Charles was referred to Toronto General Hospital’s Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.
The doctor did not have good news for Charles. His heart was operating at only 30 per cent of what it should be. He needed a heart transplant to survive.
The diagnosis was the easy part. Now, Charles would have to wait. Thousands of patients just like Charles sit on the transplant list awaiting their donor organ match. It can take months – or even years – before an organ becomes available.
His doctors knew that Charles didn’t have that long. They implanted a small, battery-operated pump, known as a mechanical heart, into the left ventricle of the heart, which kept blood pumping to the rest of his body. The device afforded him the time he so desperately needed.
Charles kept a positive attitude as he waited. One year later he received his heart transplant at the Sprott Department of Surgery. He was one of the lucky ones.
Against the odds, Charles survived. “The only reason I am alive today is cutting-edge technology,” says Charles. “Technology that was funded by donations. I’m living proof that philanthropy works.”
Hospitals rely on philanthropy to fund the development of groundbreaking discoveries in health care. Donor support makes it possible for researchers and clinicians to develop and implement state-ofthe-art innovations, treatments and therapies that advance patient care and save more lives.
Today, Charles is thriving. He has a message for the hospital staff who saved his life: “There are no people I trust more than my doctors at Toronto General. From the bottom of my new heart, thank you.”
To learn more about how you can help save lives, visit tgwhf.ca