BOSTON (WHDH) - After both a heart and a kidney transplant, Dan King is leaving the hospital Thursday, almost a year after he was admitted to the intensive care unit.
King was admitted to Tufts Medical Center last September and has spent nearly a year waiting for a heart and kidney donation.
It has been a long journey for the 51-year-old King but he says that the staff at Tufts have been like family to him.
“He is an incredibly upbeat and positive gentleman,” Dr. Amanda Vest, Medical Director of the Cardiac Transplantation Program at Tufts Medical Center said. “I think it takes a lot of mental fortitude and strength of character to stay positive through such a prolonged time in the hospital.”
King said that the support he received from his medical team “made a bad situation bearable.”
Unfortunately, he was too sick to attend his daughter’s nursing graduation this summer from Elms College, so the staff decided to bring the pinning ceremony to him.
“That was huge,” his daughter said. “It was so important to both of us.”
As he was wheeled out of the hospital sporting a pair of red bedazzled hightops, an homage to The Wizard of Oz, King said he was grateful for his new lease on life.
He will continue his rehab at home and says he wants to mentor families who are facing similar obstacles.
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