SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A heart transplant saved his life but took away a San Diego doctor's ability to treat his patients. That is until technology gave him that back too.
"I can't be around sick people because the immunosuppressant medications I have to take for the rest of my life will cause me to get sick much more easily," said Dr. Murray Alsip.
For five long months, Dr. Alsip sat in the ICU, waiting for a heart. He'd been living with a serious heart condition for 17 years.
After several false alarms, his call finally came.
The doctor would soon receive 20-year-old Mathieu Bergeron's heart; the young man died tragically in a skateboarding accident. Alsip was able to meet his donor's mother eight months after the transplant.
"She's such a wonderful person, a giving and caring person. That meeting was wonderful, she had so much to say about him and the things he liked to do and about the person he was and about his energy," said Dr. Alsip.
With his new heart beating strong, Alsip could once again do many of the things he loved, liked hiking.
And while he could no longer practice in an office, Alsip knew he had to continue practicing medicine somehow.
So he looked into a more modern form of medicine and discovered the telemedicine provider MDLive.
Working from home, Dr. Alsip can help patients with over 50 routine medical conditions, like sore throat, common cold, and fever.
"I'm just happy to be out there seeing people again, being a physician in the way that I trained."
He's able to help people every day, fulfilling the very reason why he got into medicine.
"To be able to actually help people again is a wonderful feeling."
Dr. Alsip was able to meet his donor's family through Lifesharing San Diego. The nonprofit encourages everyone to consider becoming an organ donor; one donor can heal up to 75 people.
