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My story of a Heart and Lung transplant
By
Claire McAuley, Belfast
Committee member of The Northern Ireland Transplant Association.
I was born on 23rd June 1973. After 2 days the doctors and nurses realized that there was something wrong with me. I was blue around the mouth and nose and was having trouble breathing. I was then transferred to the Jubilee Hospital in Belfast. I was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease. My heart had only 2 pumps and my blood was being pumped around my body the wrong way. My parents were told it was unlikely that I would see my 2nd birthday.
However, against the odds I not only reached my second birthday but with the love and devotion of my parents I was able to attend mainstream school and live a somewhat normal childhood. While I was at school I was still in and out of hospital with chest infections and other childhood illnesses. The teachers at both my primary and secondary schools were amazing – they knew how much I was able to cope with and instead of having to get the bus home with the other children would give me a lift home in their cars. This made me feel really special.
At 17 I left school to go out to work in a busy insurance broker in Belfast City Centre. I worked there for 4 years and loved every moment of it but by the 3rd year my health was beginning to deteriorate. I was finding myself having to take more and more time off as I was becoming increasingly more vulnerable to infections and illnesses. I was finding myself exhausted each day and was finding it harder to get out of bed each morning. Eventually it was so bad I had to leave work.
For the next 7 years, even though now I was at home, my health continued to get worse and the death of my father was a crushing blow to me. I became unable to climb even the stairs and required an oxygen cylinder to help me breathe and a wheelchair to help me get round. Finally, I was told that a lung and heart transplant would be my only option.
Four years of anxiety followed as I waited for word of a compatible heart and lungs. Several false alarms only served to increase my fear and frustration. Eventually whilst on holiday in London the call from my transplant co-ordinator came through again. I was whisked to Newcastle Upon Tyne, but this time it wasn’t a false alarm. I woke a day later to find the operation had been a success and began the slow process of healing. Over the following weeks my family were able to travel back and forward to Newcastle to visit me and help in my recovery and even though it was a tough time after 7 weeks I was able to go home… back to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
It’s been 3 years since the transplant and it’s getting difficult to remember just how poor my quality of life had been. I am now able to walk my dog, do housework and enjoy travelling again. In the past year I have been volunteering for a children’s charity. I work in their office 3 days a week and am really enjoying getting back to a normal life.
I am a committee member of The Northern Ireland Transplant Association helping other transplants and donor families.
None of this would have been possible without the generousity of my donor and their family. My time was short before my transplant but now I have been given a second chance and I intend to make the most of it thanks to their wonderful gift.
Give the “Gife of Life”
Claire McAuley – March 2006
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