| Heart Transplant |
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Ron Ingle
My father died of congestive heart failure (CHF) when he was 51 years old. My twin sister died of the same disease at age 40. I learned at age 42 that I also had CHF. In 1996, my first trip to see a cardiologist at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City revealed that my heart was in very poor condition. It was very large and weak, with only a 13 percent left ventricle ejection fraction. |
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William Jackson
In early September, 1987 I was hiking above the timberline in the Colorado mountains and at age 58 appeared in perfect health. In late September, I underwent a routine, thorough physical, stress tests and all, with no problems in sight. |
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Joe McNutt
As the dye raced through his blood vessels to his heart, Joe McNutt heard the alarmed doctor issue orders to stop the test. “Your heart is gone, Joe,” the doctor told him later. “You need a transplant.” |
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Odus Newman
My name is Odus Newman. I live in a small little town called Wapanucka, Oklahoma. I was at work one day and started feeling very badly. At the time I didn’t know that I was having a heart attack. I received my new heart one week prior to my birthday. Talk about a good birthday present. |
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John Patterson
Suddenly, the doctor came in and told us there was a problem. Hesitantly, he said “We have a 17-year-old boy on a ventilator, who probably won’t make it through the night without a heart.” He paused awkwardly, “I don’t know how to ask you this, but would you consider giving him the heart?" |
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R.V. Reid
My heart attack was on January 2, 1988. On February 25, Dr. Zuhdi told my wife that I had about one day left. I was on machines. That night, on the 25th, I was told that Dr. Cooper was on his way to Dallas to get me a new heart. Close call. Now, 19 years later, I still remember! |
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Donal Roe
My story started in 1996 with a major heart attack and five bypasses. I was district manager for OG&E and mayor of Ardmore, Oklahoma. I did well after surgery, but could not keep up with the fast pace of work. So, medical retirement was my only option. My 6’9”, 220 lb. frame and O negative blood type was going to make it very difficult to find a heart. |
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Sharon Williams
Heart transplantation saved my life. When I was born, the doctors discovered I had an enlarged heart. My heart was too big for my body. It was one big lazy muscle that didn’t function correctly. |
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| Kidney Transplant |
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Robert Bain
In the early hours of August 4, 1996, the INTEGRIS Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute telephoned my home and told me there was a cadaver kidney available for me. I asked them to 'phone back in 30 minutes and I would give a definitive answer. (How selfish can one be? If I weren't to take the donation, I was wasting some other person's valuable time.) |
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Annie Dunn
I was diagnosed with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes 40 years ago. Much of that time it was very hard to control in spite of my diligence. In time, I developed retinopathy, and to a small degree, Neuropathy. Finally, in early 2005, I developed nephropathy and would need kidney dialysis in a couple of years. |
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Jim Fothergill
Jim drives a truck and has always been a hard worker. He was used to working about 100 hours per week and to be unable to work his usual time was very hard for him. However, he did work all during the 16 months he was on dialysis. He would get up at 1:30 a.m. and drive the 100 miles to Enid, Oklahoma, in order to be the first person on the machine when the unit opened. |
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E. A. Grubb, Jr.
I had been diagnosed with a congenital kidney abnormality in 1989 at age 39. It was called an ectopic or “horseshoe kidney”, meaning the two kidneys had never divided during the fetal stage and were located in my pelvic region. |
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C.L. Hair
I offer the following, with the hope it will inspire those faced with the loss of kidney function. |
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David F. Johnson
I was on dialysis for two years and two months and the transplant list for six weeks. The computer pulled me out for a near perfect transplant. I loved all of those people in dialysis, but it is a deadly thing. |
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Tima Krausse
In August of 2003, my sister, Jan Atchley, donated a kidney to me, allowing me to enjoy a much better quality of life with my children. Words can never express my gratitude for her gift of love to me. |
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Mike Lane
Lane’s hope for a second chance at life was realized on June 30, 2006 when he received both a kidney and a pancreas through the miraculous gift that is organ donation. |
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Ron Quoetone
My story begins in 1999. I had been working in my chosen career of law enforcement for more than 20 years. I considered myself a very lucky person; I had a job that I loved. I worked as a county deputy, a city police officer, and now a federal police officer. |
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Melinda Lollar Robinson
My story starts in 2002, when I started to notice I was short of breath and had trouble walking very far without stopping to rest. I remember walking about 20 steps and then I would stop and act like I was just looking at something, so I could catch my breath. |
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Joan Saint
Way back in 1995 I got my chance for a kidney transplant. This came on a Sunday afternoon. I had been on peritoneal dialysis for less than a year, long enough for me to be comfortable with it. |
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Chris Simon
Chris Simon, 41, was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11. At age 25, he experienced kidney failure. He immediately began dialysis and was determined to not let history repeat itself, as his father died of kidney failure when Chris was only two years old. |
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Valerie Thomerson
My life has been Blessed because of the patients and medical personnel who I have had the privilege of meeting and who have touched me and impacted my life in so may ways. |
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| Liver Transplant |
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Larry Behrens
I want to tell you a few things about my family and me. I am a 50-year-old Native American who lives in a small rural town of Caddo, Oklahoma (just north of Durant, Oklahoma.) My wife’s name is Lana. We celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on February 24, 2006, while I was still in intensive care. |
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Linda Davis
My name is Linda. I am an alcoholic, and for me, that was a death sentence, but that is not where my story ends. It is in many ways, where my story begins. |
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Sandra Earl
My liver transplant was a life-changing event. I was diagnosed in 2004 with primary biliary cirrhosis and I was trying to obtain guardianship of my granddaughter I had had from birth to age 7 and a half. I was scared of the idea of a transplant, but I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t get to keep my girl, but I do get to see her a lot. |
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Shari England
How do you thank someone when they no longer inhabit the earth? When, if ever, will the opportunity present itself, placing you face to face with the family of the one who gave you the most precious gift one person can give another? What if that opportunity never comes? These are questions I confess I did not contemplate deeply during the months and years prior to my transplant. Now I ponder them almost daily. |
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Carmen Eppler
On Mother’s Day 1997, I received the most precious gift of life with a new liver. While the doctors were telling my family that I may not make it through the night, another family faced the opportunity to donate their loved one’s organs. Because of their decision to give, I received a second chance to live. |
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Carolynn Flores
I was first diagnosed with hepatitis non-A/non-B in 1984, which I likely got from a blood transfusion when my daughter was born in 1982. I wasn't diagnosed with hepatitis C until 2001 at which time I was referred to the Zuhdi Transplant Center for treatment by Dr. Wright after having been told by my gastroenterologist, Dr. Patrick Volak, that I'd have to have a transplant due to the advanced stage of the disease. |
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David Harvey
“If it weren’t for the death of another human being, I wouldn’t be living. This is a realization with which all those who receive a liver transplant must deal. I am no exception. Every night I pray for the family of my donor. I also pray that with my remaining days, I can be worthy of the gift that few ever obtain, but that has miraculously been handed to me – the gift of a second chance.” David Harvey lives by those prayers. |
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Zaina Heflin
Zaina was born on the morning of March 22, 1995. Her birth was a normal birth with the exception of having to turn her externally not once, but twice. None the less, she cooperated the second time after inducing labor immediately after the rotation. |
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Mary Huckabee
April 20 started out as the 16th wedding anniversary of local residents Mary and John David Huckabee. Little did they know the gift they were about to be given. Mary Huckabee had been on the national waiting list for a liver transplant since January 1, 2005. |
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John McNeil
John McNeil’s health was his number one priority, when, at age 40, he decided to get a physical. “I had retired from the army a year earlier, and wanted to make sure I stayed on top of my health,” says John. |
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Judy McNerney
y name is Judy McNerney and I received a liver transplant on June 8, 2002. I tell my story by saying, “I was delivered and re-livered.” As most people who have received a transplant will tell you, a person cannot go through this experience and be the same as before. I was changed physically, mentally and spiritually. |
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Naomi Peltekian
I was diagnosed with autoimmune cirrhosis in January of 2006. Evidently, I had this condition for quite sometime and didn’t know it until I had a CAT Scan, which showed an enlarged spleen, which is a symptom of cirrhosis. |
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Jai-Lee Q.
On September 1, 2004, Jai-Lee Q. York was born. He was born three weeks early, so our main concern was that his lungs were developed and he was healthy. It seemed we had received our wish until the second day we were in the hospital. |
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Carl Reherman
On May 19, 2006 we were visiting Carl's sister in Kansas City, MO, when Carl became deathly ill and I rushed him to St. Luke's Hospital. He had an esophageal bleed, was in a coma for 4 days and received many calls from many friends |
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Vonda Rose
I am Vonda Rose, liver transplant, August 28, 1998. Back in May of 1989, I was having trouble with abdominal pain and had for several years. As I was to have female surgery, the doctors put me through other tests. We began to think it was a gallbladder problem. For two months, each test showed a little more. Finally, in July 1989, the results were found. I had a rare disease called sclerosing cholangitis, which is narrowing of the ducts and bile duct blockage. The surgeon told me I needed a liver transplant. |
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Carol G. Sheid
I look at life much differently since that day in 1996. Small things are more precious to me. I know that God was not ready for me to leave this earth. |
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Harold Ward
I started having health problems in 1995, such as swelling in the abdomen area and utter exhaustion. We consulted many natural types of medical care, but nothing seemed to help. Finally, I went to a liver specialist who took several blood tests but recommended nothing in the way of treatment. In September 1996, I consulted another liver specialist who immediately wanted me to come to theINTEGRIS Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute as he did not advise delaying to get a transplant. |
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| Lung Transplant |
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Linda Monnard
My diagnosis of COPD officially came in about 1998. I knew for years that something was wrong. I had always been very independent, strong, athletic and determined. |
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Jim Ward
My transplant experience began in the spring of 2000 when I was diagnosed with a genetic condition affecting my lungs (alpha 1 anti-trypsin deficiency). I had recently retired from long time career as an air traffic controller due to increasing illness caused by the effects of alpha-1. |
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Bobby Wilkerson
My journey began in April 2006 at 48 years old, after having heart bypass surgery. Following surgery, my oxygen saturation levels were not normal and I was sent home with supplemental oxygen. I was diagnosed as probably having pulmonary fibrosis, which flared up due to the surgery. The fibrosis progression was very slow, and I continued my job in the Air Force for a year, only using oxygen at night. |
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Rex Williams
I was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) when I was 42-years-old and decided I could smoke and drink myself to death before the disease got me. I was wrong. |