Man dies waiting
for donor heart

Richard Panui had been living
with an 'artificial heart'
since Feb. 12

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

Richard Panui became a tragic statistic on Sunday: One of the 30 percent of heart-transplant candidates who die waiting for a donor heart.

The 59-year-old Ewa Beach father of five had been living with an "artificial heart" at St. Francis Medical Center since Feb. 12.

"He was wonderful, feisty and always had a joke; he always kidded with the nurses," Donna Pacheco, heart transplant coordinator, said today.

"He was one of those kind of guys -- just a real strong being ... an incredible fighter. I don't think most people would have had the strength to do what he did."

He would have had to go to the mainland for treatment and a heart transplant if not for a blood-pumping device called "HeartMate." He was the first Hawaii patient to use it.

"The machine worked just perfectly, totally flawless," Dr. Carlos Moreno, heart transplant surgeon, said today.

But there were no suitable heart donors for Panui, he said. Donor hearts must come from within the state because they must be transplanted within a certain time.

"He didn't have to die," Pacheco said. "He had a disease that with a donor heart this man could have lived many, many years, a totally healthy life. But because of not having the resource available, there was nowhere to go."

So far this year there have been three viable heart donors -- all too small for Panui, Moreno said. One donor heart was transplanted and worked well, he said. The other two couldn't be used because they didn't match those waiting for transplants, he said.

One of the problems with Panui was that he was a big man, weighing about 210 pounds, Moreno said. "Most donors are small."

And they are few, he said. "That is one of the main issues in the community," he added, pointing out that Hawaii is one of the lowest states in the nation for organ donations.

"It's important for people to know what we have available and limitations of not having enough donors," Moreno said.

He said Panui was in pretty good shape for a transplant during the first two months. He was doing rehabilitation workouts to prepare for surgery.

"He was a very dynamic man," Pacheco said. "He was up on treadmills, all over the hospital, in great spirits and eating really well." The hospital gave him a big birthday party on March 1, she said. "He was at his peak ..."

Then he suffered from infection and other complications and was too ill in the last few months to survive a transplant, she said.

"The loss of hope and distress over six months was exhausting for the people here, and I can't imagine what the family went through. It's a very loving, pulled-together family, the most supportive family I'd ever seen."