NEWS

New lung, new life for Galion woman

Mark Caudill
Reporter

GALION -- Pat Heffernan received a lifesaving phone call on Nov. 4, 2014.

A lung transplant coordinator contacted Heffernan while she was enjoying her morning coffee.

"She asked what I was doing. I said I was drinking a cup of coffee. She said, 'Dump it out,' " Heffernan said.

Heffernan rushed to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where she underwent a lung transplant. She spent 10 days in the hospital and more than five weeks in what she called a "grown-up Ronald McDonald House."

A Galion native, Heffernan was a longtime nurse. She also formerly served as the director of the Lexington Senior Civic Center. She talked about the lung transplant on the one-year anniversary of the operation.

In July 2010, Heffernan got sick with what she suspected was a sinus infection.

"I was very short of breath," she said.

Trips to the doctor and taking antibiotics didn't help. She eventually went to the Cleveland Clinic for a lung biopsy. Heffernan was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a fixed airway obstruction that causes severe shortness of breath and a dry cough.

After three years of treatment, including two and a half years of being on oxygen 24/7, Heffernan had experienced enough.

"I told my husband that I was not going back, that I was going to let nature take its course," she said.

Without a transplant, doctors expected Heffernan to live six to 12 months.

Heffernan did later take an appointment with a pulmonary doctor, who suggested she try OSU. She met with her current doctor in January 2014.

OSU had recently reopened its lung program when Heffernan became a patient.

"It was really fortunate timing," said Jessica Petersen, media and public relations coordinator for Lifeline of Ohio.

According to Lifeline of Ohio, there are 3,342 people waiting for an organ transplant at any time. Hundreds more await tissue transplants.

Once every 48 hours, an Ohioan dies waiting. In the last 10 years, more than 2,000 Ohioans have died waiting for a transplant.

Heffernan went through 57 tests in what she called "a lot of trips to Columbus." In July of 2014, she was placed on a waiting list for a new lung.

She went through a dry run on Aug. 3, 2014, but the lung wasn't viable.

"That was difficult, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," Heffernan said. "I have a lot of faith in God, and I knew there was a lung waiting for me."

Like Tom Petty once said, the waiting was the hardest part.

"Every time the phone rang, I wasn't sure if it was OSU," Heffernan said.

On Nov. 4, it was OSU calling. Heffernan got to come home on Dec. 16.

"What a Christmas present," she said. "It was amazing to me. God had a hand in that."

Heffernan said she still has problems walking — the News Journal steps proved to be an obstacle — and has been to the hospital a few times. A couple of visits were the result of bad reactions to medicine.

"You never get back to normal," she said. "You find a new normal."

Before the transplant, Heffernan said even a trip to the store was a challenge.

"I'd have to have a motorized cart," she said. "I just stopped going. It was so frustrating to me because I'm used to being independent."

Heffernan said she still gets tired, but she's not complaining, especially after getting off oxygen.

She can even laugh about the situation now. Heffernan said her grandchildren initially didn't know where she was after she shed her oxygen tank and tubes.

"They said, 'Grammy, where are you?' They called it (tubing) my leash," Heffernan said.

One of those grandchildren, 11-year-old Makayla Bogner, spent a lot of time with her grandmother and acted as a caregiver.

Makayla's mother, Amy Laing, of Ashland, also stayed close.

"It was rough, not being able to do the things that you were used to doing (with Heffernan)," Laing said. "I was always around to help her out."

Heffernan insisted that her oxygen tanks and equipment be removed before she came home. She wanted no reminders of her ordeal.

Meeting the donor's family

Last month, Heffernan got to meet the family of the young woman who donated a lung to her. Sarah Crawford, 30, was married with a 2-year-old son and two stepchildren when she was stricken.

"She had everything going for her," Heffernan.

Heffernan got to know more about the person who saved her life. Like Heffernan, Crawford was born on a farm and loved animals. She was a star athlete in high school and graduated second in her class.

Heffernan was especially touched to meet Ben Crawford, Sarah's husband.

"When he first walked in, there were no words," she said. "There were a lot of tears, a lot of hugs."

The meeting was set up by Lifeline of Ohio.

"We facilitate the donation and transplant process," Petersen said. "We're the ones who find the donors and the recipients."

Petersen said only 1 percent of people die in a manner to allow for a transplant to take place.

"It's a complex, amazing process that has to take place in a short time," she said. "You move up on the list due to your health deteriorating."

One person can potentially save eight lives, Petersen said. Sarah Crawford saved four people.

Of the OSU patients who receive a lung transplant, 89 percent live at least one year. Sixty percent live four or five years.

Heffernan is not concerned.

"I hope to make the most of what time I have left on Earth," she said. "Nobody knows when they're going to get called home."

mcaudill@gannett.com

419-521-7219

Twitter: @MNJCaudill