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Show Local woman hopes for heart lung transplant f- V i 1 VV' ? l A- v.i N J ' T x- . I ; s L . t V V , . , V, ' TV , 1 A year ago Nancy Tracy was La in the fast lane in life. . W e is hoping for a heart-1 heart-1 .transplant that will allow her to 'again i live a "normal life" and Mings she wants to do. I Tracy, an active, vibrant Ian has Pulmonary Veno Oc-e'(PVO) Oc-e'(PVO) disase - a disease 'usually only strikes children -Jit her at age 49. The chances of an adult getting the se are one in 25 million, she J joking "Aren't I the lucky ""(Because of her age, a pulmonary iialist at Utah Valley Regional Seal Center is writing up her p for the American Medical ociation, she says), jlrs Tracy, who resides in Hishland, says she lives on high "xvgen 24 hours a day - and without lj heart-lung transplant has been . told her life expectancy is about a ' There is no cure for the disease except a transplant. The reason she needs the double organ transplant is because the disease has affected both her heart andlungs. ' "The small capillaries and tiny bloodvessels are blocked with stone-hard stone-hard fibrin," she explained. Since contracting PVO, she has also developed polycythemia, a disease which, while it also is incurable, in-curable, can be contained. Mrs. Tracy says she feels fine - until she starts moving around - so she does work she can do sitting down. She reads, crochets, tries to fix one meal a day for her family and is still able to work in the bookmobile, filing cards, and to do Spanish extraction ex-traction work for her church. When she is home, she is able to get around by utilizing a large oxygen unit. . When she leaves, she has a wheelchair and takes a portable oxygen unit with her. She says she has applied to the University of Pittsburgh for a transplant, but won't know until after Nov. 21 whether or not she will be eligible for it. That's when she will be interviewed in-terviewed to see if she qualifies for the surgery there. "I decided to go to the University of Pittsburgh because of their success rate with this type of operation," she says. She says at age 49 she is older than doctors like for this type of transplant tran-splant - "they usually won't take anyone who is over 45." A few months ago she was not only a busy wife and mother with five of her eight children still at home, but held down a part-time job as animal control officer in Highland and Alpine, did volunteer work for school and church, and helped with the bookmobile program. She was in good physical condition up until the time she contracted the disease, she said, adding "anyone chasing animals has to be in good condition." She first noticed the symptoms of the disease last summer when she went out to feed her horse and her breathing became so labored she had to stop and rest. Suspecting it was her heart, she delayed going to the doctor because two of her children were planning to get married and she wanted to "get them out of the way first." After the wedding in June, her symptoms became worse and she decided she had better do something about them. "We had to go to Ely for one of the weddings and I had trouble breathing. I was scared enough to do something about it. "After being admitted to UVRMC, receiving oxygen and undergoing a battery of tests over a four month period, she was referred to the University of Utah Medical Center and the LDS Hospital for biopsies, which finally revealed the disease. Although the family's insurance has paid most of the cost so far, costs facing the family now are tremendous. If approved for the operation, cost for the surgery alone will be $145,000. Then it will cost another $8,000 for doctors, and a charge of $220 every other day for extra care. Recovery could take three to four months "at least." In addition, there are transportation tran-sportation costs and other "incidentals." "in-cidentals." She said her family has contacted agencies that help with medical costs, but found many agencies use their finances for research, and those who don't only help indigent people and her husband, Roger, has a good job. "The doctors have given me a lot of material to read on the disease and while it's scary, I want to know about it," she says. Mrs. Tracy said statistics don't offer a lot of hope about transplant success. While 60 percent survive the operation, only 18 percent survive sur-vive a year. There is, however, one patient who had the operation at the University of Pittsburgh who is still alive three years after the transplant. She says she has good breath control and feels so good when she is just sitting,- she "almost forgets" her condition - until she moves. And the doctors she has encountered en-countered are feeling and concerned. con-cerned. "And I have faith in them," she says. One of the criteria for transplant approval is support at home. "And I have that." If she is accepted for the transplant, tran-splant, it will be a matter of waiting -- and hoping a donor is found before time runs out. Nancy Tracy hopes for transplant, talks about disease. |
