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Hope and reality mix at launch of Organ Donation Awareness Month

'I feel I've been given the gift of a second chance,' says recipient of lungs; People urged to consider becoming a donor

While a sense of hope heralded the ascension of the beadonor.ca flag to mark Organ Donor Awareness Month, Tuesday’s ceremony at City Hall was bittersweet and served as a poignant reminder of the importance of the campaign.

“Today, we acknowledge Marilyn Bowen and David Horn,” said Orillia Mayor Steve Clarke, noting the ceremony was dedicated to the memory of the two Orillians who died last year. “Both were grateful recipients of organ transplants and were strong advocates of organ donations and the transplant process.”

Clarke applauded the efforts of the local campaign. He said that four or five years ago, just 23% of Orillians had registered to be organ donors. “Because of the advocacy of this group, they have moved that to 36%, which is now above the provincial average.”

Deanna Peacock, who, with long-time friend Margot Crowder-Davidson, organized the flag-raising event for the fourth straight year, said their goal is to increase local participation to 50%.

For Peacock, the campaign is personal. In 2012, she required a life-saving double-lung transplant after being diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

“I feel I’ve been given the gift of a second chance,” she said.

It has been a difficult journey. She was first summoned to Toronto in February of 2012. “I was told they had a set of lungs for me,” she recalled. After racing to Toronto, she was given medication, prepped for surgery and, 12 hours later, minutes before surgery was scheduled, she was told the lungs weren’t viable.

“It was devastating,” she said. “My mantra, from the beginning, has been that when you’re in this journey, your outlook on life changes. I had to look at it differently. I just looked at it as a practice run.”

However, not long after, she got pneumonia and her health deteriorated rapidly. She had to call together her three adult sons for a heart-to-heart talk.

“I knew I was failing. I still had hope, but I didn’t think I would make it,” she said, fighting back tears. “Prior to getting this disease, I was healthy, so this was devastating. I remember thinking I want to see grandkids and weddings and graduations. That was the worst part of the whole thing when I had to tell them I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

Fortunately, less than two weeks later, she got the call. And on July 21, 2012, she received her new lungs – and a new lease on life.

It is still not all roses and sunshine. Medication is expensive. On top of that, she “is in rejection” and has been since 2013. But, so far, she is OK. “I’ve noticed my breathing is not as good as it was right after the transplant, but it’s the new normal,” she says. “A transplant is not a cure; it’s a treatment. Every day is a blessing and you make the most of it.”

One of the ways she celebrates her blessings is to work with Crowder-Davidson and others to raise awareness to promote organ donation.

“I can’t think of anything else I’m supposed to be doing now,” Peacock told OrilliaMatters. “This is my calling, my passion. I never in my life, until I was 48, I never thought I would need that second chance. But I did and I was lucky.”

Not everyone is so lucky, she stresses. Peacock knows of five people “in this community who have died while waiting for lungs. That’s just lungs! They didn’t have to die.”

Crowder-Davidson said education is key. “There is so much misinformation and so many myths out there … that’s why awareness is so important,” she said. “Donating an organ or a tissue is a gift we can give. Most people are interested but death and dying is such a taboo topic for so many people.”

With that in mind, she encourages people to visit beadonor.ca to find more information and to sign up to be a donor. You can also register in person at any ServiceOntario centre or by mailing in a Gift of Life consent form.

FACTS:

  • One organ and tissue donor can save up to eight lives and enrich as many as 75.
  • About 1,500 people in Ontario are on a waiting list for a transplant. Every three days, someone dies while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
  • Everyone has the potential to be an organ and/or tissue donor regardless of age or health.
  • The first and foremost duty of health-care professionals is to save a life. Only when a life cannot be saved does organ and tissue donation become an option.

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Dave Dawson

About the Author: Dave Dawson

Dave Dawson is community editor of OrilliaMatters.com
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