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Transplant recipients and donors are mourning the dying of an Intermountain Healthcare surgeon who died in a ski crash final week.
They’re sharing how Dr. Andrew Gagnon impacted their lives, and remembering him on social media.
Gagnon died Thursday after falling from a cliff whereas snowboarding at Solitude.
Whereas the information is hitting his medical colleagues laborious, it’s additionally leaving an enormous gap within the Utah transplant group.
Jeff Willis is a type of individuals who is aware of Gagnon as the one that saved his life.
“Man, it’s laborious. I can’t course of it,” Willis stated Saturday.
He was in denial and disbelief after listening to the information of Gagnon’s dying Friday night.
When he first discovered, Willis was left making an attempt to grasp how the particular person answerable for giving him his life again had died.
“I drove to the Intermountain campus, Constructing 5, and I simply sat within the parking zone, making an attempt to course of every thing,” Willis stated. “I used to be simply in a state of shock.”
Simply two years in the past, Willis, a Sort 1 diabetic on the time, was in finish stage renal failure. He was on dialysis by a port in his neck, and his physique was shutting down. He wanted a kidney and pancreas transplant to maintain residing.
“That they had stated that in the event that they hadn’t achieved that, he would have been useless inside a few weeks,” recalled Kristina Keene, Jeff’s important different. “So, he was actually on the finish of the rope.”
In November 2019, Jeff recounted how he acquired a 2:30 a.m. telephone name that Intermountain Medical Heart discovered a donor match and he wanted to return in instantly. On the time, Willis may hardly stroll, and stated he staggered to his automotive and drove to the hospital.
That’s when he first met Gagnon.
“I noticed Dr. Gagnon and he launched himself. And for lots of people who know, he’s acquired this signature smile. It’s simply, it’s so warming,” Willis shared.
Willis stated he thanked the crew earlier than they put him to sleep for the surgical procedure.
Keene anxiously waited outdoors the working room for the 4 or 5 hours it took to function.
As soon as completed, she described how Gagnon got here out wanting exhausted however relieved and completely happy. She broke down crying and gave Gagnon a hug, sobbing in his arms.
“That kindness and luxury that I acquired from him was overwhelming,” Keene stated. “I actually don’t know that I might have dealt with that night time in addition to I did with out him.”
Willis left the hospital two weeks later, with each a brand new kidney and pancreas — and with out Sort 1 diabetes.
He acquired the possibility a few months later to thank Gagnon at an occasion to have fun Willis because the Intermountain Healthcare Transplant Program’s 3,000th kidney transplant affected person.
An image reveals him shaking Gagnon’s hand, with each males all smiles.
“I don’t know tips on how to repay you. I've to make on daily basis depend,” Willis remembered saying to Gagnon. “And for him, it was similar to, ‘You’re alive. That’s my compensation is you’re alive.’ And (he was) simply such human being normally.”
That was the final time they noticed one another, however he’s considered Gagnon and all the Intermountain Healthcare Transplant Program crew on daily basis since.
Willis’ story is only one of a whole lot about Dr. Andrew Gagnon and what he’s achieved to provide sufferers one other likelihood at life.
“Dr. Gagnon gave me a second birthday. And it was like as if life didn’t start for me till after just about 40 years outdated,” Willis stated.
He’s considering of Gagnon, particularly now, realizing greater than anybody how treasured life actually is.
He stated his coronary heart goes out to Gagnon’s household and Intermountain Healthcare crew.
“From right here out, I’m going to do my finest, as a lot as I can,” Willis stated. “As a result of being alive, it’s a privilege.”