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A Life Lesson Learned
From a teacher’s perspective, there are many lessons that you can learn from experience only. Hands-on activities make lessons real and come to life, not just for kindergartners, but for everyone. Our family recently had a hands-on, life changing experience this summer from which we learned two important, life-saving lessons: Be a donor and give blood. You often hear about these important issues in the media and can see blood drives going on throughout our community. To my family – my husband Jay, our son and daughter and myself, it became personal. Why? Because two years ago, Jay was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). He was 45. The National Institutes of Health defines IPF as “a disease of the lower respiratory tract that damages the air sacs (alveoli) and leads to reduced transfer of oxygen to the blood. There is scarring or thickening of tissues deep in the lung without a known cause." IPF is thought to occur from an inflammatory response to an unknown factor, “Idiopathic” means no cause can be found.
IPF affects over 35,000 Americans every year and usually requires the patient to undergo a lung transplant… if you are blessed to receive one. That can only happen if someone has made the decision to be an organ donor. Jay’s path to his double lung transplant began with a cough that wouldn’t go away-he thought it was his asthma acting up. An open lung biopsy in February 2006 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Destin revealed what was really going on – he had IPF. So, he was put on the lung transplant list at the UAB Hospital. This meant that someone had to die for Jay to receive new organs-new lungs! Sadly, a lot of organs are harvested from young people who have died in car accidents. The victims of these tragedies can sometimes result in saving the lives of up to seven people by the donation of their lungs (2), heart, liver, kidneys (2) and pancreas.
So our family waited for the call from UAB. It was hard on all of us, but we kept praying that call to come. Some families wait for months and years; some patients can’t wait and sadly pass away before a match is found. On June 13, we moved to Birmingham to the UAB Townhome that’s affiliated with the University Hospital; we were waiting there for one lung, possibly two to become available for transplant. Jay had doctor’s appointments that day and by that time, he was so weak that I had to push him in a wheelchair to his appointments. Sixteen days later, at 10:00 pm on June 29th, the phone rang. I answered and the voice on the other end asked for Jay. I said, “He’s asleep right now, can he call you back tomorrow?” She said, “He’s going to want to take this call.” I was overwhelmed and excited and woke him quickly! She asked him if he could come right away-they had a B-positive organ match for him!! (If you say no, the next recipient on the list is called). He said yes and was prepped the next morning at 6:00 am for a double-lung transplant. We prayed and hoped that the lungs would fit him and that everything would go smoothly.
The lungs did indeed fit him the transplant took place. The doctors do lung transplant surgery though the patient’s back – Jay’s left-side transplant took two hour and his right side took six hours. I relied on my Faith to sustain me through all the waiting, and Jay came through the surgery very well. For the next two months, we lived at the UAB Hospital and townhome. He did develop complications after the transplant, however: a blood clot in his arm required him to take blood thinners, which caused problems for his healing process. We have also made three trips back to UAB for surgery to remove scar tissue. It has not been easy.
Today, Jay feels much better. Our family is doing well and adapting to our “new normal”. It definitely takes a toll on you when your husband and father, a big, 6’2” man, is as sick as he was and goes through what he did. Jay will be on medication for the rest of his life to prevent rejection and infection. We are so thankful that he will have “the rest of his life”, because someone was an organ donor.
My life lesson through all of this is to be an advocate for organ and blood donation. Every two second, someone in America needs blood; every five seconds, someone needs an organ. Those are sobering facts. You can help save lives by giving blood whenever you can and by designation on your driver’s license that you want to be an organ donor. My husband’s life was saved and our children still have their father because someone made the choice to give someone else another chance to live. Jay and the rest of our family are now designated organ donors. It’s the greatest gift you can give…or receive.
To learn more about organ donation along the Emerald Coast, contact the Emerald Coast Health Alliance at (850) 862-8904 or email them at alliance@echa.net. To learn more about donating blood, contact the Northwest Florida Blood Center at (850) 473-3853.
Kelly Turner is a kindergarten teacher at Destin Elementary and can be reached at (850)-803-8176.
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