Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – As a wife, mother and grandmother, Presque Isle’s Bonnie Drew, 64, has a lot of dates to remember including holidays, birthdays and anniversaries; however, there’s one special date she will never forget … Sept. 25, 2008. That’s the day she got a new lease on life. That’s the day she had a life-saving liver transplant.
Bonnie Drew
Drew’s ordeal began in September 2007 when she was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, caused by Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a hereditary condition which can result in serious lung disease in adults and/or liver disease in infants, children and adults.
“I had minimal symptoms,” she said, recognizing that while she felt fine overall, her energy level had been diminishing. “I had elevated liver enzymes and swelling in my ankles … fluid retention especially in my legs. My physician at the time wasn’t too concerned, but after the enzymes continued to be elevated, she referred me to Bangor to Dr. Daniel Cassidy. He’s the one who diagnosed me through a liver biopsy.
“After the biopsy discovered cirrhosis, then they had to discover what was causing it,” said Drew. “I wasn’t taking any drugs that would cause liver damage, so he did genetic testing and that showed the Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.”
Alpha-1 [AAT] occurs when there is a lack of a protein called Alpha-1 antitrypsin that is produced in the liver. The main function of AAT is to protect the lungs from inflammation caused by infection and inhaled irritants such as tobacco smoke. The low level of AAT in the blood occurs because the AAT is abnormal and cannot be released from the liver at a normal rate. This leads to a buildup of abnormal AAT in the liver that can cause liver disease and a decrease of AAT in the blood that can lead to lung disease.
“After I was diagnosed, the biggest thing that I had to be careful of was my diet,” Drew said. “I was on a pretty strict low sodium diet. All they could do at that point was treat the symptoms, but my doctor told me that at some point I would need to be checked by a liver specialist in Boston because once you have liver cirrhosis, it continues to get worse. Everything remained pretty stable until February 2008 when I was hospitalized due to my ammonia level becoming high which affects your mental functioning.
“I woke up one morning and I just could not get it together. I was laying on the couch, was really tired, and I just couldn’t think. Something was wrong … I thought I was having a stroke but the right symptoms weren’t there,” she said. “That hospitalization led me to being sent to Boston [Massachusetts General Hospital] much earlier than we anticipated. Once you start having problems with your brain, then it means the disease is getting a little more serious and it’s time to be evaluated by a specialist. That’s when the word ‘transplant’ was first mentioned but I thought things would get better.”
If a transplant is imminent, Drew said, you first have to undergo a series of tests to make sure all other organs are functioning well.
“I underwent similar tests in March, April and May,” she said. “A transplant is a big deal and the doctors need to be sure your body can handle it.”
Drew was placed on the United Network for Organ Sharing [UNOS] in March 2008.
“There’s also another option you can do for a liver transplant and many people do this. You can have a living donor because the liver is the one organ that you can split … you can take part of a liver and it will regenerate into a whole one,” she said. “We decided to pursue that option. My daughter, Christie, and my oldest son, Stephen, were both checked. They had to go through some testing, and the transplant team chooses the one that seems to be the most appropriate. They chose Christie, and after additional testing, it was determined that she could be a donor.
“That was the original plan. The surgery was scheduled for the beginning of September, but in July I developed the MRSA infection and it went into my spine. That took me off the UNOS list because the doctors had to clear up the infection,” said Drew. “I was hospitalized at The Aroostook Medical Center overnight and then I was shipped to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. I had nine weeks of I-V antibiotics with powerful drugs. I was hospitalized pretty much from then until I was transferred to Boston in September with another infection.
“My whole family was there in Boston as I was critical. I was placed in medical ICU and stayed there for about 6-7 weeks,” she said. “While there, my kidneys failed and I was put on dialysis. My condition was grave, and the team made the decision that my daughter could not be my donor. Ethically, they will not operate on a healthy person when the life of the recipient is in question. We could not have a living donor, but I needed a whole liver, so I had to wait for one.”
Once the infection cleared up, Drew was again placed on UNOS.
“By the morning of Sept. 24, 2008, I was infection free and back on the list. I was number-one in New England,” said Drew, “which meant the first liver that matched me was mine. We were told it could take several weeks, but it ended up taking only six hours. About 5 p.m. that night, we were told I had a donor.
“It was very emotional because knowing that you have a donor means you’re joyful, excited and thankful, but at the same time, you know a family somewhere is going through one of the most sad times and you can’t help but think of them in that moment. We were crying tears of happiness for our situation, and tears of sadness for the other family.”
That night, Drew experienced even more complications.
“My clotting factor was so bad that I was bleeding to death,” she said. “I was having transfusions all the time. Doctors fought for my life that night. They were amazing.”
The surgery began at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 25.
“It lasted 10 hours,” Drew said. “I received about 15 units of blood before the surgery and another 15 units during. Thank God for someone donating blood. The surgery was a success and I woke up to the sound of my son, Doug, playing the violin and classical guitar. I woke up literally clapping my hands to music.”
Drew went from medical ICU to transplant ICU and then to a rehabilitation facility in Boston for three weeks. She was cleared to leave the hospital Nov. 17 and returned to Presque Isle Nov. 21.
“During my time at rehab, I basically had to learn to walk,” she said. “I wasn’t eating and had feeding tubes for weeks and weeks. It was a relearning of everything.”
A little over a year later, Drew said things are “wonderful.”
“I feel great,” she said. “I’m pretty much back to normal, and very, very grateful. I’m back at work … casual part-time at the TAMC outpatient specialty clinic.”
Looking back on her experiences, Drew said she’s here today because of her faith in God.
“The fact that we got the liver so fast … literally in the nick of time, is because of God. That wasn’t a coincidence. I believe my family, the physicians and the nurses saw the hand of God. We were constantly reading scripture and praying.
“Through all this, I’ve seen God working. I’ve become bolder in my faith, and I’m incredibly grateful for every day that I live and every breath that I take. I wake up in the morning and it’s a beautiful day and it doesn’t matter if it’s snowing 10 feet or raining … it’s a beautiful day. You don’t complain about little, stupid things.”
As a way of honoring the donor who gave her the “gift of life,” Drew has pledged to take good care of herself by maintaining good health, exercise and diet.
“I want to protect the organ that he gave me by not abusing it in any way,” she said. “To me that’s a way of honoring him. I’m alive because of someone else.”
Drew and her husband, Dennis, attended a New England Organ Bank reception Sept. 13 in Auburn honoring donor families across the state. It was there that Drew had a chance encounter with the mother of the man who donated his liver to her.
“Before we left, I went into the restroom and there was another lady there. I said, ‘You’re one of the donor families, aren’t you?’ and she said, ‘Yes.’ I told her I was a liver recipient and she told me that she had just received a beautiful letter from her son’s liver recipient,” said Drew. “I told her that I had written to the family but hadn’t heard anything back. I asked when she lost her son and she said Sept. 23. She then told me she was from Bangor, and being so close geographically, I started to wonder.
“I asked if she could tell me the name of the person who signed the letter, and she said ‘Bonnie,’” Drew said. “I remember putting my hand on my right side and said, ‘I’m Bonnie. I have your son’s liver.’ We both started crying and she showed me his picture. It was a very surreal, emotional moment.”
Drew said she is eternally grateful not only to the donor and his family, but also her doctors, nurses, family, Angel Flight, which is a non-profit, charitable organization of pilots, volunteers and friends that arrange free air transportation for any medically-related need, and the many friends, co-workers and church members who “gave tremendous support and encouragement.”
“We were flown from Presque Isle to Boston many times,” she said. “Angel Flight is a remarkable organization.”
Drew has shared her story at local churches and encourages people to consider registering to be an organ donor.
“I hope my story encourages people so they can get through difficult situations like this,” she said. “I want to make people aware of the importance of donating organs. More than 103,000 people are on the transplant waiting list, every 12 minutes a new person is added, and 18 people die waiting for an organ or tissue transplant every day.
“Last year alone, organ donors saved more than 28,000 lives, and another 1 million people received tissue transplants that helped them recover from skin loss, bone damage, spinal injuries, burns, hearing impairment and vision loss,” said Drew, “and yet sadly, thousands more die every year waiting for a donor match that never come. Since sharing my story, a number of people have decided to become organ donors and I think that’s great. It truly can save a life like it did mine.”
For more information on organ donors, log onto donatelifenewengland.com.
Contributed photo
BONNIE DREW, left, of Presque Isle, recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her life-saving liver transplant. After being diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver back in September 2007, Drew battled through many challenges before receiving a new liver Sept. 25, 2008 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. These days, Drew says she feels wonderful and is grateful to be alive. Here, she poses with Barbara Brien, RN, one of the day nurses who helped take care of Drew during her health crisis.
