1-17-2019
ANACORTES, Wash. — An Anacortes man has a new lease on life after undergoing a remarkable heart transplant.
Kerry Hayes’ heart had been failing since he was in his twenties, and he underwent numerous surgeries before he was finally put on an artificial heart in his forties.
Kerry had lived with the artificial heart for a year and a half when he heard of doctors at UW Medicine who had been certified to transplant hearts that are infected with hepatitis C.
“I decided to go ahead and try it . . . and I got the call two weeks later,” he says.
Doctors were able to cure the hepatitis following the transplant and the 49-year-old says he’s doing well and feeling stronger every day.
This was the first time a heart from a hepatitis C-infected donor was transplanted in the Pacific Northwest.