Lung transplant patient on healthcare, organ donation

By Anelia K. Dimitrova Troy Lindaman has battled cystic fibrosis for as far back as he remembers. In March 2008, he was put on the waiting list for a new pair of lungs. In the meantime, his company, Merrill Lynch, merged with Bank of America and he had an unsuccessful dry run with lungs that did not fit. Three months ago, the 42-year-old Shell Rock, Iowa, native underwent a successful double-lung transplant operation at the University of Iowa where, among other procedures, his surgeon had to tie over 100 vessels by hand. “It was quite a journey,” Troy says. A financial advisor for Merrill Lynch, Troy says the government should stay out of the healthcare business. “After going through as many healthcare issues as I have, I hope they don’t get it like Canada where it is nationalized healthcare,” Troy says as he munches, in the company of his family, on his favorite broasted chicken at a Main Street joint in Waverly. “There’s always an old adage if you want to see how expensive something is, just make it free. …What’s going to happen is that all the best surgeons and doctors are going to end up leaving the United States because the government is going to control how much they can make and what they can do.” Thankful for the gift that he has received from a 26-year-old man in Ohio, Troy urges prospective donors to tell their families exactly what they want done with their organs. “It’s not a given, just because you have a legal document that says you want to be a donor, does not mean that you are going to be one,” Troy says. “They ca change it and you have lost your vote.”

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YouTube | February 23, 2009

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