honorable mention
Patrick Junker germany
title
3804 Days
Since April 2008, Gerd Kuck has been on the waiting list for a new heart. His chances were bad: He’s 1.96 meters, needs a big heart.
With his blood type 0 positive, he competes with many patients.
In 2013, he became so weak that he almost died, so the doctors transplanted him an artificial heart. He marries again, gets a daughter, builds a house. In November 2017, at 51, it becomes clear that he won’t survive with his artificial heart.
In Germany, with 797 organ donors a year, the number has fallen to a historic low in 2017. With the number of 9.3 donors per one million inhabitants in 2017, the willingness to donate is so low, that the membership in Eurotransplant is now under discussion. A „serious organ donation system“ is defined by at least ten donors per million inhabitants. On the 5th September 2018, after 3804 days of waiting, he had a transplant with success. On the 31st of October, he is allowed to return home and enters his new house for the first time. In January he started to work again.
The story was an assignment for the German magazine »stern«.
In 2019 he won the award for Science Photography of the German Photographic Association (DGPh) and became a member of the German Photographic Association.
With his long-term projects, he wants to move people and create more understanding of sensitive topics through photography.
He works for stern, Die Zeit, brandeins and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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entry description
Gerd Kuck was 27 years old when he was diagnosed with an incurable heart muscle inflammation. In 2000, he suffered a heart attack which forced him to live with a pacemaker with defibrillator function.Since April 2008, Gerd Kuck has been on the waiting list for a new heart. His chances were bad: He’s 1.96 meters, needs a big heart.
With his blood type 0 positive, he competes with many patients.
In 2013, he became so weak that he almost died, so the doctors transplanted him an artificial heart. He marries again, gets a daughter, builds a house. In November 2017, at 51, it becomes clear that he won’t survive with his artificial heart.
In Germany, with 797 organ donors a year, the number has fallen to a historic low in 2017. With the number of 9.3 donors per one million inhabitants in 2017, the willingness to donate is so low, that the membership in Eurotransplant is now under discussion. A „serious organ donation system“ is defined by at least ten donors per million inhabitants. On the 5th September 2018, after 3804 days of waiting, he had a transplant with success. On the 31st of October, he is allowed to return home and enters his new house for the first time. In January he started to work again.
The story was an assignment for the German magazine »stern«.
about the photographer
Patrick Junker is a freelance photographer based in Stuttgart, Germany. Since 2014 he studies photojournalism and documentary photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany. Internship as a photographer at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from January to July 2017. Since 2018 he is a member of the Fotobus Society e.V.In 2019 he won the award for Science Photography of the German Photographic Association (DGPh) and became a member of the German Photographic Association.
With his long-term projects, he wants to move people and create more understanding of sensitive topics through photography.
He works for stern, Die Zeit, brandeins and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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