Organ patient recalls struggle
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Tracy Reifer attends events related to organ donor awareness about twice a month. The Waverly, W. Va., resident has run in 25 five-kilometer races in the past three years, and says at 51 she is healthier than she's ever been.
After a flag-raising ceremony at Marietta Memorial Hospital on Tuesday morning to mark April as National Donate Life Month, she talked about the experience that not only extended her life but changed most things about it.
Reifer received a liver transplant three years ago.
"I had an autoimmune disease of the liver," she said. "I got sicker and sicker, I had trouble breathing and was retaining fluid. I had to go to Cleveland every week to get it drained, five liters every time."
That went on for seven weeks, which is not a long time to be on the transplant list but seemed eternal to her.
"It's still hard, with the uncertainty," she said.
After the transplant, she said, the effect was immediate.
"I woke up hungry, but they didn't let me eat for two days," she said.
Discharged after five days, she had to return to the hospital for another 17 days to deal with rejection symptoms.
Reifer returned to work as a financial assistant but retired 18 months later. She felt drawn to do something more meaningful with the new life she'd been granted and now does advocacy work for organ donation and transplants. She's started the Mid-Ohio Valley Gift of Life, a nonprofit that raises money to help transplant candidates with travel expenses -- people in the area have to go to Columbus, Cleveland or Pittsburgh for treatment. She also helps at blood drives, health fairs and at the Marietta BMV, where people have the option to register as organ donors when they renew their drivers licenses or apply for new ones.
She plans to travel to Salt Lake City late this summer to compete in the national Donate Life Transplant Games as a runner -- she won bronze in the 1,500 meter and 800 meter in 2015, only months after the transplant.
She had never been a runner before the transplant.
"I appreciate every day," she said. "Without this, I would never have seen my third granddaughter."
Teresa Adams, director of critical care for Memorial, said the transplant process often begins with a diagnosis by a primary care or family physician followed by a referral to a specialist. Those for whom transplant is the recommended treatment begin their journey at that point.
"Eventually, it gets to the point where the organ is non-functional, and they go on the transplant list when organ failure is inevitable," she said.
According to Donate Life Ohio, about 3,000 of the state's residents are awaiting such transplants. The list nationally is 115,000. Last year, 34,000 transplant operations were performed but on average 20 people a day still die waiting for an organ donation.
"Only about 1 percent of the population dies in a way that's suitable for organ donation," Adams said, and not all of them have committed to donating organs.
Not all come from fatal events. Kidney transplants can be done from living donors, and so can liver and lung transplants, using lobes of the organs, Adams said.
She also noted that physicians who pronounce death do not know in advance whether the person is an organ donor. After death, "we call Lifeline, and they check the registry. If the person is not on the registry, we attempt to contact the family," she said. "The person's status as an organ donor has no effect on medical decisions."
Up to 15 organs and articles of tissue can serve as transplanted material from each donor, according to Donate Life Ohio. In the U.S., 1.75 million tissue transplants and 50,000 cornea transplants take place each year, the organization said.
An unknown number of Marietta residents have had their lives saved or improved by transplants.
"Every time I go somewhere, people talk to me about their experience with transplants," Adams said. "It's a lifestyle change, a commitment."
At a glance
How to register as an organ donor:
¯ Register at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles when you renew your drivers license or apply for a new one.
¯ Register online at DonateLifeOhio.org/Register
¯ Request a donor registry enrollment form and mail it to the BMV. Forms are available at all BMV offices and on the Donate Life Ohio website.