Every morning, Debbie Hooper wakes up and wonders if this is the day the phone will ring and she is called in for her double-lung transplant.
“I live by my phone,” said Hooper. “I have to be available 24 hours a day.”
On April 10, Hooper will have waited three years for a suitable organ donor. The 56-year-old grandmother has end-stage lung disease.
April is organ and tissue donation month across North America. According to the BC Transplant Society, Hooper is one of fewer than five people in Powell River who are on the transplant wait list. So far this year, no one local has received a transplant.
Currently, 10 people who have undergone organ donation and transplants live in Powell River.
“The only recourse for me at this time is a transplant,” said Hooper. “Unless I can get a transplant, a simple cold could be terminal.”
So Hooper waits for the perfect match, one that has the exact three antibodies she has.
Hooper’s friend Brenda Small is one of the 10 people who have undergone donor transplant. Small also had end-stage lung disease.
Small received her phone call in June 2010 and underwent a double-lung transplant in Vancouver. Powell River does not have a regional clinic and Vancouver General Hospital is the only centre performing lung transplants.
“I had been on the waiting list for five months,” said Small. “When I got the phone call I was going to totally chicken out, but if I hadn’t got my transplant I think it would have been my last Christmas.”
The transplant society encourages everyone in the province to be an organ and tissue donor. To date, almost one million people have done so.
Registration is no longer done by placing a decal on a licence or medical card. According to Peggy John, manager of communications and community relations for BC Transplant, registering is as easy as going online, inputting a personal health number and answering “yes” or “no.” That decision might be one that saves a life.
“I went down to BC Transplant in November,” said Hooper. “They are trying to find a perfect match, which means they are trying to match three antibodies in my system to the donor lungs.”
When she was first told of her disease, Hooper’s reaction was fear. End-stage describes the most severe form of a disease. Her symptoms first became apparent in 1998 when she suffered two severe cases of pneumonia.
Small was sick for about 10 years and on oxygen for the last year and a half before she received her transplant.
“I’m not out running marathons,” said Small, “but I’m on the right side of the ground.”
Meanwhile, Hooper hopes it doesn’t take much longer to receive her transplant. She believes it has taken so long because she is not in critical condition.
“There are people out there who are sicker than I am,” she said.
Over time, Hooper has become more knowledgable about her disease and what’s going to happen when the phone call comes. While she waits, Hooper helps to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation.
Statistics from the provincial transplant society show there are 4,708 people in Powell River who have registered their decision to donate, which is 23 per cent of the population and similar to the provincial average.
John said potential donors should not assume that a health condition will rule out their eligibility as a donor.
“People think they can’t donate because they’re too old, or maybe they think they’ve abused their liver,” said John. “You’d be surprised by who can donate. We encourage people to register. If and when something might happen, the medical team will do all that is necessary to see if it’s possible for that person to donate.”
Despite having a rare blood type, doctors found a match for Small.
“It’s the worst day of somebody’s life and the best day of yours,” she said. “I cry every time I think about it.”
While Hooper waits for the phone to ring, she said, “Sunny side up and vertical is good.”
For more information or to register to become an organ and tissue donor, go to transplant.bc.ca.
