Transplant patient grateful for the gift.

PositionNEWS

Byline: Brian Lee

SPENCER - Donna M. Bujnowski loves her gift, but doesn't know whom to thank for it.

The 62-year-old resident of Shady Drive received a heart transplant at a Boston hospital earlier this year. Mrs. Bujnowski and her family say they are reflecting on the special gift during the holiday season.

"It's the best Christmas present I could have ever received," her son Craig P. Bujnowski said last week.

Mrs. Bujnowski said she feels 100 percent better, but not being able to personally thank the family of the anonymous donor kind of bothers her.

She said she has written a letter of thanks, which went through her doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital and then the New England Organ Bank. She hasn't heard back.

"Hopefully they got that letter, because at the time, you're so grateful you're back with your family and friends and you have a new outlook on life, and somebody else is suffering a loss, whether it's a mother or sister or daughter."

Mrs. Bujnowski was one of 27 people this year to undergo a heart transplant at Massachusetts General, one of 12 transplant centers affiliated with the New England Organ Bank. That is the area record for one year, said Dr. Joren C. Madsen, director of the Transplant Center and Section Chief for Cardiac Surgery at Massachusetts General.

Massachusetts General has performed heart transplants since the early 1980s, he said. It also performs kidney, pancreas, liver, heart-lung, lung and intestine transplants.

In Worcester, UMass Memorial Health Care performs transplants of the heart, kidney, pancreas and liver, according to the New England Organ Bank.

The heart transplant surgery itself takes two to three hours, but the entire procedure takes 12 or more hours. That includes getting the heart at a distant, remote site, transporting it, putting it in and making sure the patient is stable, Dr. Madsen said.

This year 103 hearts were transplanted at the New England Organ Bank programs as of last Friday, according to the organization's Web site, 90 at Massachusetts programs and 13 at the Yale School of Medicine.

In 2007, 78 hearts were transplanted at the New England Organ Bank programs, 71 at Massachusetts programs, seven at Yale. With Mrs. Bujnowski's procedure performed in May, Christmas came early for her and her family. Her husband, Paul, is an electrical contractor. They have two sons: Jeffrey, 38, an electrician, and Craig, 34, a financial analyst.

Mrs. Bujnowski has had heart issues for decades...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT