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CNN LIVE SUNDAY
Blackout Forces Cancellation of Liver Transplant
Aired August 17, 2003 - 16:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the power outage wasn't just an inconvenience, but it was potentially dangerous. Imagine getting ready for life-saving surgery when the lights go out. It happened to a Michigan man. Dave Bondy from affiliate WNEM has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE RICHARDSON, LIVER TRANSPLANT PATIENT: It's devastating as hell, you know, after you're waiting all that time, you know, to get this liver and you finally get it and now you don't have it.
DAVE BONDY, WNEM REPORTER (voice-over): Steve Richardson was being prepped for surgery at Detroit's Henry Ford hospital when he got the devastating news.
RICHARDSON: So they finally come out and said that they couldn't do the surgery, and that was the end of it, and get dressed and go home.
BONDY: Doctors told Steve that the hospital's generators were about to run out and there wouldn't be enough power for the six-hour surgery.
RICHARDSON: You don't know what to do. You're scared. You're scared in the first place, you know, because you're going in for this surgery that you could die during the having it, and then to come in and tell you after you're all prepped up and waited all this time no power.
BONDY: While Richardson was driving back to Saginaw, the donated liver was being shipped to a patient in California.
RICHARDSON: You know, I'm a rare blood type. So it was hard to get, you know, the liver. And finally, they got the liver, and could do nothing with it.
BONDY: After waiting two years for the liver, Richardson worries if he will ever get this life-saving opportunity again.
RICHARDSON: If I don't get it, I'll die. Yes. Eventually down the -- you know, down the line.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: That was Dave Bondy from affiliate WNEM. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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