Next month marks the fifth anniversary of the day Ed Schaefer of Riverhead got a second chance at life.
On Sept. 21, 2016, Schaefer had a heart transplant. He received a heart donated by a 32-year-old Long Island man. His donor’s transplanted organs saved the lives of four other people.
Since his transplant surgery, Schaefer must take medications twice daily to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted heart. The medications work by suppressing his immune system so effectively his body’s natural defenses are basically nonexistent. He’ll be on the medication for the rest of his life. The regimen has changed over time and he’s now on the lowest possible doses of two immunosuppresive drugs, but he still remains without the natural immunities most of us take for granted.
And though Schaefer received both doses of the Moderna vaccine, he still has no immunity against COVID-19.
“I was tested for antibodies after I was fully vaccinated and it came back that I had none,” he said.
“My medication basically kills the vaccine,” he said.
“My doctor didn’t recommend getting tested for antibodies,” he said, because antibodies don’t necessarily mean you’re protected. “You could still catch it and the consequences could be serious” since his immune system is so suppressed. A positive antibody test could give the immunocompromised a false sense of security.
Schaefer’s doctor instructed him to follow the same regimen no matter what the antibody test showed: Wear a mask, maintain a safe distance from others and practice good hand hygiene.
“I’ve basically been wearing a mask for five years,” Schaefer said. “It’s really not that big a deal,” he said.
He wonders aloud why it’s become such a big deal for so many people. “It’s a simple act that can really save another person’s life, whether they’re unvaccinated or immunocompromised,” Schaefer said. He doesn’t understand the huge controversy over such
Schaefer welcomed news yesterday of the FDA’s emergency authorization for a third dose for transplant patients like him and others with moderate and severe immune deficiency. His cardiologist recommended he get a third dose if one became available and he intends to do that as soon as health care providers can begin administering them. There are no guarantees that a third dose will provide immunity to the deadly virus for someone on anti-rejection medications, but it’s worth a try, he said.
He took the first two vaccine doses without knowing what the outcome would be. “When they did the studies and clinical trials, there were no transplant recipients studied,” Schaefer said.
But whatever side effects he might have had, he said, would have been better than COVID. “As it turned out, I had no side effects from it, except some fatigue the day I got the shot.”
Schaefer, who turned 69 today, celebrated his birthday at the ocean with his wife Debbie. They venture out whenever they can, but always make sure it’s in a safe environment, where social distancing and mask wearing are observed.
Living through the pandemic is especially frightening when you know you have no immunity and an infection could easily be deadly. But Schaefer is as grateful as ever to be alive, thanks to the “second chance” he got five years ago when he received the heart that beats in his chest. And he’s not about to squander that opportunity now.
>>>Read Ed Schaefer’s transplant story: “Friends are made from the heart.” (March 8, 2019)
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