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Specialty: Bloodless Heart Transplant

Joseph

A new heart was Joseph’s winning save.

Joseph didn’t just need a new heart right away, he needed a hospital that could perform a bloodless transplant. He was referred to Montefiore Einstein, the only hospital within 800 miles that could save his life.

Thirty-eight-year-old father of two Joseph Downs has spent much of his life playing soccer. From pick-up games at recess, to indoor adult leagues in his twenties, many of Joseph’s favorite memories took place on the soccer field. But while his unbridled enthusiasm for the sport may have been without equal, an undiagnosed condition silently held him back.

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I thought I was going to die that day. So I said, ‘I’m not going to play anymore.’

As the years wore on, Joseph’s health deteriorated exponentially. Doctors at a New Jersey hospital diagnosed him with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a rare and untreatable congenital condition that causes the heart to pump poorly.

The doctor told me ‘You need a heart transplant, like, right away.’

For a Jehovah’s Witness like Joseph, heart transplants are allowable, but the blood transfusions that go hand in hand with that procedure are not.

Another hospital told me, ‘We don’t have a bloodless program. I only know like two hospitals where they do that.’

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Joseph began to lose hope. Luckily, Dr. Ulrich Jorde of Montefiore Einstein heard about Joseph’s predicament and developed a plan to save his life, while remaining sensitive to his beliefs.

Very few centers in the United States, or globally, do this. And Montefiore Einstein is one of those centers.

I was so happy. Finally I’m going to be able to be with my kids again and play soccer.

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Three years post-surgery, Joseph is back in the game playing 90-minute matches without breaking a sweat, and spending quality time with his two active children in a way he was never able before.

It’s a blessing to be able to be the father that I want to be.

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