27 Years of a Second Life with a Transplanted Heart

Hamide Akman, who underwent heart transplantation for the first time in Turkey 27 years ago, said, “I met my teacher Ömer Bayezid 27 years ago, and the diagnosis of transplantation was made. When I had the transplant, my child was 4 years old. I have now married my child and I am taking care of my grandchildren. Please, no one should hesitate to donate organs.”

A program was organized by the Prof. Dr. Tuncer Karpuzoğlu Organ Transplantation Center at Akdeniz University as part of the Organ Donation Week events from November 3-9. In the program held at Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, where nearly 7,000 transplant procedures have been performed so far, organ transplant patients shared their experiences. Ahmet Döner, who had a kidney transplant at age 4, and his mother Selda Döner, Hızır Araf Aydın who had a kidney transplant at age 5 and his mother Gurbet Aydın, Hamide Akman who had the first heart transplant in Turkey, Ferit Azimli, a student at Akdeniz University who had a heart transplant, Gülay Erol who had a liver transplant, and Yusuf Şimşek who had double arm transplantation took the stage to share their transplant journeys and called on citizens for support in organ donation.

“The number of donations from cadavers is very low”

In the opening speech of the program, Prof. Dr. Özlenen Özkan thanked all the healthcare team working at the Prof. Dr. Tuncer Karpuzoğlu Organ Transplantation Center and highlighted the importance of cadaver donations. Özkan stated, “Unfortunately, cadaver donations are not very high. The purpose of this week is to raise awareness and to significantly increase the number throughout the year, just like in Spain and Iran. Because there comes a moment when you can be either the recipient or the donor.”

“Children should not sleep on machines, they should sleep at home”

Ahmet Döner (12), who was born premature in Antalya with two holes in his heart and suffered from kidney failure and hypothyroidism, and who held on to life thanks to the kidney transplant he had at age 4 and the treatments he received, said, “Donate organs, save lives,” while his mother Selda Döner pointed out that children should be at home, not in hospitals. Döner said, “Our process started when I was 5 months old in my mother’s womb during the organ screening. Then we had a premature birth at 7 months. This is how our process began. Thanks to our doctors, we managed with medications until the age of two and a half. But after two and a half years, we had a cadaver organ transplant. I thank the donating family very much. We can say we slept at home, not on machines. This is a very significant thing. After the transplant, we found life. Children should not sleep on machines, they should sleep at home.”

Hızır Araf Aydın, who was diagnosed with kidney failure while still in the womb and had a kidney transplant after three years of dialysis, said, “I had an organ transplant. But there are many children waiting for organs like me. Please donate your organs to them,” calling for organ donation. His mother Gurbet Aydın expressed that Hızır Araf lived on dialysis for three years and was distanced from many emotions during that time. Aydın said, “Hızır Araf was born with kidney failure, and we treated him with medications until he was two years old. After the age of two, we started dialysis, which was a very difficult process. Life conditions were very tough. It was very hard for a child to walk around with a catheter and not be able to play with other peers in parks or say, ‘Mom, hide, so the other kids don’t see him.’ We underwent psychiatric treatment for a long time.”

“Mom, my dream came true, I survived”

Gurbet Aydın also mentioned that her son had a dream of waking her up by kissing her during his dialysis process, and after the transplantation that took place following three years of dialysis, her son’s dream came true. Aydın shared, “My son had a dream. He had seen it from other children. He said, ‘Mom, I want to come and wake you up by kissing you in the morning without being connected to any device.’ That had a big impact on me. Then he turned 5. One day at 10 AM, we received a call saying a kidney was available from a cadaver. We experienced very different emotions. The sadness for the deceased person and the joy of saving my child’s life. We experienced all of these emotions at once. Then we had the transplant. When we came home from the hospital, the next morning Araf suddenly ran, crying, and kissed me to wake me up. He said, ‘Mom, my dream came true, I survived.’ And our life conditions became much better afterward. At least we started spending time at home, then we started school. Now we are in the second grade. I believe that all children deserve this. Be life; be a heart for them. Please make your donations abundantly. By the way, I also became a donor; I donated my marrow to my sister. I became both a donor and a recipient. It happened to me, but it can happen to you too. So I ask you to be a little more sensitive. Please do not hesitate to make your donations.”

“Let it be life, let it be spirit instead of decaying into the soil”

Hamide Akman, who had the first heart transplant in Turkey 27 years ago, stated, “I met my teacher Ömer Bayezid 27 years ago, and the diagnosis of transplantation was made. When I had the transplant, my child was 4 years old. I have now married my child and I am taking care of my grandchildren. Please, no one should hesitate to donate organs. Let it be life instead of decaying into the soil. Let there be parents for children, and children for parents. Let no one experience pain. One person dies, but they can save seven or eight lives. I lived this for a long time; I suffered for four years. There were no heart transplant cases before me; I said there was no one ahead of me. I had no other chance. I had to go in, and I did. Thank goodness I did. Thank goodness my teacher Ömer convinced me. I have been living a quality life for 27 years. Liver and kidney can be taken from living donors, but with the heart, you do not have that chance. Please, everyone should donate organs. Everyone from children to adults is waiting.”

“The university became my home”

Ferit Azimli, a student at the Sociology Department of Akdeniz University, who survived with the heart of national boxer Görkem Kaynar, who passed away due to brain death in 2023 after receiving an artificial heart transplant, described the university as both an educational institution and a home for him. Azimli expressed, “I am a student of the university; Akdeniz University has become a home for me as well as an educational institution. In 2018, an artificial heart device was implanted here. I had two surgeries. In the first transplant, the artificial heart device was placed, and I lived for many years with it. It was an intervention that saved my life until the transplant. Then, in 2023, I had the transplant. During the device period and also during the transplant process, I was followed up by the Cardiovascular Surgery Department. All of this process was really top-notch, and I am very happy. I am glad I came here. And I am very happy that I met Ömer Hoca; our paths crossed and he performed the transplant. The hospital is seen as a scary place to avoid, but even when I pass through that road and see these buildings, I can’t help but call it home. I don’t know why this happens, but I feel very safe. When I step in here, I feel very secure. Every time I see Ömer Hoca, I feel safe because I tell myself ‘You are okay.’ Akdeniz University Hospital gives a sense of home. We have received organs, but we also need to engage in individual activism for those who haven’t. We should not hesitate to say this, to announce it to people, whether they are our neighbors or friends; we need to fight for this. Raising awareness about organ transplantation has become our duty now.”

“Thanks to God, I am standing on my feet”

Gülay Erol, who had a liver transplant 15 years ago, emphasized that no one should be afraid of undergoing transplantation, saying: “I got married in 2001 and started experiencing a liver problem during my pregnancy. Doctors diagnosed that after delivery, my liver was related to autoimmune hepatitis and that I needed a transplant. I went through very challenging days during a 10-year process. After my delivery, my abdomen swelled and accumulated fluid, and by the time my daughter turned 8, I became a mother-in-law. I married off my daughter, thank goodness. In 2009, I was matched for a transplant. I was scared of the transplant, I didn’t come, I didn’t want it. And I rejected that transplant. I thought I would get better, but the doctors were always right. They had said it wouldn’t happen, but I never accepted it. Eventually, when things got worse, I realized the seriousness of the situation and believed that I needed to undergo a transplant. Thinking that our doctors want me to be better, I accepted the second transplant that came three months later. Thanks to God, I am standing on my feet. I have two children.”

Yusuf Şimşek, who had double arm transplantation, said, “As an organ donation, we can give a life, a spirit. They should not be afraid at all. They should just entrust themselves to our doctors and nurses. They are working very hard to make us the best and most beautiful. May God bless them; we thank them.”

“He named his son after the donor”

Arife Güler, whose husband Mehmet Ali Güler passed away in 2022 due to multiple organ failure caused by coronavirus, and who was the first in Turkey to undergo simultaneous heart and kidney transplantation 15 years ago, and her son Bekir Güler were also among the participants. Arife Güler expressed, “My teacher Ömer worked very hard, we thank him very much. He said first heart kidney, then baby. After the transplant, we had our son, and he is alive; he is our greatest luck.” Bekir Güler, who was named after his father’s organ donor Bekir Harmankaya, said, “I was born in 2011 after my father’s transplant. We lost my father two and a half years ago; there was nothing we could change. I get my name from Bekir Harmankaya, who donated his organs to my father.”

“Unfortunately, heart transplants cannot be performed from living donors”

Prof. Dr. Ömer Özkan, Director of the Prof. Dr. Tuncer Karpuzoğlu Organ Transplantation Institute, drew attention to the decrease in cadaver transplant numbers, stating, “We are trying to raise awareness about organ transplantation. Organ transplantation is not just done this week; it is a situation that everyone should be aware of year-round, as much as needed. Unfortunately, many of our friends know that there are families who have received organs from others but do not donate when their own relatives pass away. We think the phrase ‘it might be needed for you one day’ is sometimes not enough. We are among the top in the world for live organ transplants. However, a heart transplant unfortunately cannot be performed from living donors, or when you perform transplants from your relatives, you also partially risk those people. Right now, the people from whom you are taking an organ or part are unfortunately no longer with us, and those people are not among us anymore. But a part of them lives on through you. There is actually a significant meaning here.