United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz had just finished working out at home when his knees buckled.
He remembers thinking, “That was weird.” But he recalled the words of a doctor friend who had warned him not to ignore seemingly odd symptoms that could indicate heart problems.
Munoz dialed 911. He then broke his nose stumbling to unlock the front door so the paramedics could come in.
A few months later, in January 2016, Munoz had a new heart beating in his chest.
Munoz runs one of the world’s largest airlines. But on Monday, the 59-year-old wasn’t at United’s Chicago headquarters or on a plane. He was sitting alongside others who had also undergone heart transplants at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. They gathered as Northwestern doctors announced that this year they’ve broken the record for performing the most heart transplants ever at an Illinois hospital in one year.
With less than two weeks left in 2018, doctors have transplanted 54 hearts this year, besting the previous record of 45 heart transplants set by Rush University Medical Center in 1995, according to Northwestern.
“The accomplishment is a reflection (that) there’s more patients in Chicago that are receiving the type of care that they ought to be receiving,” said Dr. Allen Anderson, medical director of the Center for Heart Failure at Northwestern’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.
Illinois hospitals have performed 167 heart transplants this year — up from 139 last year — according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Nationally, doctors have performed more than 3,100 heart transplants so far this year.
In recent years, it’s become easier to get donor hearts, Allen said. That’s partly because of an increase in the number of people dying from opioid overdoses, and a result of changes to the national system for allocating organs. Also, people with hepatitis C may now be organ donors thanks to advances in the ability to cure the disease.
Demand for hearts, however, continues to outstrip supply. In Illinois, 215 people are waiting for heart transplants.
Dr. Duc Thinh Pham, the Northwestern center’s surgical director, called donating a heart “the most selfless decision anyone could make.”
Munoz said he doesn’t yet know the identity of his heart donor, but he hopes to one day. “Three years ago, around Christmas, I was here and I was given a gift of, in essence, life,” Munoz said at a news conference.
Munoz’s heart troubles came as a surprise to him. He was a marathon runner, a triathlete and a vegan.
“This is why symptoms matter so much,” Munoz said. “It’s genetic in a lot of people, and it was with me.”
After that heart attack in October 2015, Munoz was in a coma for about a week and got a type of pump known as a left ventricular assist device. He was ultimately added to the list of people waiting for hearts.
On the morning of his birthday in January 2016, Anderson, with Northwestern, phoned him.
“Allen called and said, ‘Have we got a kick-ass heart for you,’” Munoz recalled.
He went to work the morning of his transplant and attended a meeting. At lunch time, he excused himself from the office. His co-workers didn’t know he was headed to Northwestern for the transplant.
“As a public company CEO, I went through the whole gamut of privacy — you need to know, you need to tell everybody everything, to minding for my family, and my wife and kids,” Munoz said.
Munoz’s recovery went smoothly, and he returned as CEO in March of 2016. But he knows not everyone is as fortunate.
“For every one of us that is saved by the things we heard about today, unfortunately, there are many that aren’t,” Munoz said. That’s part of the reason he’s traveled the world telling his story since his transplant, to raise awareness about the signs of heart attacks.
“I don’t think I’ll ever ever get tired of telling this story and, more importantly, I’ll never get tired of thanking folks,” Munoz said.
A number of other heart transplant patients also shared their stories Monday to help Northwestern celebrate the milestone.
Ralph Nuti, of St. Charles, said he could barely walk 20 feet before he got the same kind of pump as Munoz and ultimately a heart transplant three months ago. Nuti had endured decades of heart problems.
Nuti, 61, said he’s now enjoying his grown children and young grandchildren.
“Before, I’d be sitting in a chair and I couldn’t do a lot with them,” Nuti said. “Now, we’re going to the arboretum to see the light fest and we’re taking my older one out to go shopping.”
It’s a life-changing surgery for those who undergo it, Anderson said.
“There are no perfect therapies in this world, but for the right people (heart transplant) is a proven therapy that allows people to return to their lives,” Anderson said. “That might be playing with their grandchildren, watching their children get married, or running a Fortune 500 company.”
The hospital with the next highest number of heart transplants this year was University of Chicago Medical Center, with 38. Loyola University Medical Center had 28.
lschencker@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @lschencker
