Unvaxxed man in need of a organ transplant vows to 'die free' rather than get the jab

A double amputee in desperate need of a kidney transplant has vowed to “die free” after a hospital said he couldn’t have the lifesaving surgery unless he got the Covid vaccine.

Chad Carswell, from North Carolina in the US, has previously undergone numerous heart surgeries.

Now, with his kidney only functioning at four per cent, he needs a transplant to save his life.

“Without [a transplant], there’s no telling how much longer I’ll still be here,” Ms Carswell, who has dialysis three times a week, told publication WSOC.

His friends and local businesses have raised money for the procedure, but the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital says Mr Carswell and the kidney donor must be vaccinated against Covid first.

“He said ‘the last thing we need to talk about is your vaccination status.’ And that’s when I politely told him there was nothing really to talk about it, it wasn’t up for debate [and] that I wasn’t getting it,” he said, appearing to reference a doctor.

“Then he told me, ‘you know you’ll die, if you don’t get it.’ And I said, ‘I’m willing to die’”.

The hospital told the publication its policy follows health standards seen across the US and that “transplant patients are at high risk for severe illness if they don’t have preexisting immunity prior to being transplanted”.

Ms Carswell, who says he doesn’t need the vaccine because he’s had Covid twice, is now searching for a hospital who will perform the transplant. He says getting the jab should be a choice.

“I was born free. I will die free. I’m not changing my mind. I’ve had conversations with my family and everybody that’s close to me,” he said.

“They know where I stand, and it’ll not be a situation that occurs that I will choose to change my mind on this topic.”

Unvaccinated dad, 31, with heart failure gets mechanical pump

Last week, a 31-year-old dad of two with deteriorating heart failure made headlines after he was bumped from a Boston hospital transplant list when he refused to get the jab.

DJ Ferguson, whose wife is pregnant, “has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns” and doesn’t believe in the vaccine, his dad David Ferguson told CBS Boston.

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• Family furious after man dies with Covid while waiting for an ambulance

Mr Ferguson has since had a mechanical heart pump implanted.

“His heart deteriorated so much, so quickly, that they had to resort to open heart surgery and doing the L-VAD mechanical pump,” his dad told Fox News.

The 31-year-old’s mum Tracey Ferguson said her son is not an anti-vaxxer but was worried about its effect on his existing medical issues.

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