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July - September 2009The information provided in this newsletter is for educational purposes only, and it is not nor
implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your own physician or healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical
condition.
Future Hope Chest News EventsThe following are the events of possible interest to Hope Chest News patients
Monthly Meeting of the Hope Chest News Board of Directors 10/19/2009HCN Bake Sale 10/26/2009Monthly Meeting of the Hope Chest News Board of Directors 11/16/2009Monthly Meeting of the Hope Chest News Board of Directors 12/21/2009
Concert at Willow Creek Church benefiting Hope Chest News 03/14/2010 (Details later)
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Hope Chest NewsPATIENT NEWSLETTER
Mission StatementTo support and educate University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview
patients and their families as the progress through the process of lung, heart or heart / lung transplantation, and to promote public awareness of the needs
of these patients.
U of M Lung Transplant Support Group MeetingMonday November 2, 2009 7:00 – 8:30PM
Lillehei Conference RoomDwan Variety Club Cardiovascular Research Center
Jo Anne Young, MD, Transplant Infectious Disease Specialist at University of Minnesota Fairview will be addressing the group on the subject of the H1N1 flu virus. Doctor Young is an Associate Professor of Medicine and joined the faculty in January of 1999. She received both her B.A. and M.D. from Case Western Reserve University and completed a residency in Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her fellowship in Infectious Diseases and several years of junior faculty service were at the University of Washington with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Of note, Dr. Young's primary area of interest is connecting diagnostic and treatment research from the laboratory to the bedside for transplant patients. She has worked on developing novel methods for the diagnosis of complicated fungal infections in the immunocompromised host. Currently, Dr. Young is lead investigator at the University of Minnesota for multiple clinical trials on bacterial, viral, and fungal agents for transplant patients.
* - * - * - * - * - *The monthly Caregivers meeting will be from 6:00 – 7:00PM before the regular monthly Support Group meeting. It is held in a room just down the hall from the Support Group meetingHope Chest News is pleased to assist Marget Schmidtke, Lung and Heart Transplant Social Worker, by sending out this meeting notice to all our patients who have E-Mail addresses on record with us.If you have any questions please send call Marget (612-273-5796 or 1-800-478-5864) or send an E-Mail to [email protected] meeting is in the 'normal' place that meetings are held each Monday. For those of you who are not familiar with where the Lillehei Conference Room is located: Enter the main entrance of the Fairview University Hospital Take the elevator down to level 1 (you are level 2 at the lobby) Turn and walk in the direction of the glass windows of the Pediatric MRI
and Sedation Center Turn right and proceed down the corridor You will pass a shipping and receiving area, keep walking another 10-15
yards! The Lillehei Conference Room will be on the left side just after the
shipping area
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2008\2009 TransplantsAs of 10/20/2009 there have been 16 Lung and 25 Heart transplants in 2009.
Lung Transplants Heart TransplantsName Typ
e# Date Name # Date
SL 375 12/24/08 664 12/24/08Nancy Johnson SL 376 12/24/08 665 12/24/08Gary White SL 377 01/25/09 666 01/06/09Linda Tollackson DL 211 02/17/09 667 01/24/09Mae Eastman SL 378 02/19/09 668 01/25/09Patricia Klotz SL 379 02/19/09 669 02/16/09
DL 212 03/15/09 670 02/16/09DL 213 03/23/09 671 02/19/09SL 380 03/25/09 672 02/22/09
Daniel Clay SL 381 03/28/09 673 02/22/09Elizabeth Johnson DL 214 04/20/09 674 03/12/09
DL 215 05/06/09 675 03/23/09Kathleen Fredin DL 216 07/07/09 676 03/23/09
DL 217 07/18/09 677 03/26/09SL 382 07/20/09 678 03/30/09SL 383 08/04/09 679 03/31/09DL 218 08/06/09 680 04/06/09
Ron Senn SL 384 08/10/09 681 05/05/09682 05/16/09683 06/07/09684 07/07/09685 08/11/09686 08/13/09687 09/10/09688 09/12/09689 10/02/09690 10/15/09
Due to HIPPA rules, Marget Schmidtke needs permission from patients to release their name, transplant number and date. Contact her for your transplant information. If any of the people transplanted this year would like to have their name printed in the newsletter, please E-Mail [email protected] or you can call Ed Aubitz at 952-457-8281. If you let us know the date of your transplant and your transplant number, we can also make a button for you.
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July367 Fred Amrhein SL 07/09/08 782 Lucille Benson SL 07/15/94 7294 Gary Broberg SL 07/28/05 7319 Sarah Buan SL 07/07/99 7 Polly Davis DL 07/28/06 7266 Lyle Derry SL 07/25/03 779 Jean Dunson SL 07/04/94 788 Jo Elliott DL 07/14/99 7446 Ramona Foore H 07/28/02 7114 Shirley Freel DL 07/18/01 740 Clarice Hanson HL 07/13/97 7136 Wanda Hinrichs DL 07/03/03 7 Charles Larsen SL 07/25/03 7 Richard Ludgate SL 07/03/03 7199 Mark Nyman DL 07/25/07 7
11 Dan Oien, Jr HL 07/08/89137 Kip Peterson DL 07/21/03158 Scott Roth DL 07/30/05329 Dan Schreyer SL 07/27/06 Ed Schuck SL 07/03/0398 Suzie Seever DL 07/20/00182 Candace Sprout DL 07/06/0624 Brian Stainbrook HL 07/07/9196 Pat Strohmeier DL 07/01/00146 Roy Stubbs DL 07/19/0497 Shawn Swartz DL 07/14/0076 Cindy Torgerson DL 07/26/98113 Chris Trainer DL 07/15/0189 Patty Wagner DL 07/30/99350 Alice Wishard SL 07/29/07
August115 Mary Ahern SL 08/02/96 8
Ronald Aman HL 08/01/07 8351 Lowell Amundson SL 08/08/07 8 Gary Anderson 08/31/03 8284 Joe Coletta SL 08/11/04 8186 Clyde Craite DL 08/26/06 8 Martin Glanzer DL 08/25/05 8137 Doris Griemes SL 08/12/97 899 Ronald Hicks DL 08/28/00 8 Darlene Johnson SL 08/25/04 8330 Denise Johnson SL 08/31/06 8141 Denise Kitchen DL 08/04/03 8198 Duane Lokken SL 08/03/00 8
80 John MacLaren DL 08/18/98370 Jane Mathison SL 08/06/08167 Jim Melander SL 08/14/99 Richard Phinney SL 08/25/04200 Deva Randall SL 08/06/00213 E. Margaret Resch SL 08/16/01 Walter Rime SL 08/11/04
Paul Ruder H 08/22/92150 Sandy Sandager SL 08/03/98298 Michael Schowalter SL 08/08/05296 Charlotte Storsteen SL 08/05/05297 Karen Taylor SL 08/07/05139 Deb Werkman DL 08/05/03
September
181 91 Jan Ankeny DL09/30/99 9Kenneth Bourke SL 09/03/07 9
332 Wally Brandt SL 09/06/06 9 Susan A. Campina SL 09/20/02 9593 Brenda Daml H 09/22/06 9127 Trudy Davey DL 09/08/02 9331 Duane Erickson SL 09/06/06 9 Susan Hackert SL 09/12/06 9281 Charles Hagenah SL 09/14/04 9301 Robert Haugen SL 09/20/05 913 Larry Larrivy HL 09/28/89 9201 Harlan Lehto SL 09/07/00 9169 Viki Lelm SL 09/13/99 9269 Eldred (Al) Lorenz SL 09/07/03 9245 Lavonne Maring SL 09/20/02119 Leroy Martin SL 09/05/9641 Daniel McCullough DL 09/06/9529 Carmen Moser DL 09/16/94140 Terry Olson DL 09/28/03 Dale Oman SL 09/04/05272 Melodie Purk SL 09/09/03117 Robert Smith SL 09/03/96
Kristi Van Buren DL 09/25/05270 Carla Viseth SL 09/07/03216 Carole L. Vondall SL 09/05/0119 Richard Ziegler DL 09/30/9350 Brent Zook DL 09/27/96
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We have lost more of our transplant family members:Judy Johnson waiting passed away 12/23/08David Lee Knowles transplanted 07/04/01 passed away 07/23/09Chuck Hagenah transplanted 09/14/04 passed away 08/13/09Ron Senn transplanted 08/10/09 passed away 08/19/09
Our prayers go out to their families and to any others who have passed away that we are not aware of.
MemorialsNancy Meyer
Margarita AlverezWayne Anderson
Sandy & Ed AubitzCathy Broberg
Frank & Judy VermeulenEileen Vierow
Gary & Marcia WulfCharles HaganahGretchen & Shawn Appelwick
Elizabeth BeckDavid and Patricia Berglund
Gordon & Lillian DavisHagenah Family
Mr. & Mrs. Larry HagenahAmy Johnson
Mark & Susan Wasbotten
For Friends who have diedRamona Foore
DonationsThank you to the following people & organizations for their generous
donations
Nicolle & Joseph Dosan
In memory of loved ones and donors. Please remember
them in your prayers
News from the HCN Board of Directors
Kip Peterson, President (2010) 952-431-8442 [email protected] Aubitz, Vice President (2012) 952-457-8281 [email protected] Vermeulen, Treasurer (2011) 952-445-2497 [email protected] Greising, Secretary (2012) 763-383-2255 [email protected] Caron, Director (2010) [email protected] Daml, Director (2011) 763-753-4169 [email protected] House, Director (2012) 763-593-9745 [email protected] Foore, Director (2011) 952-431-2884 [email protected] Jackson (2011) 651-696-2962 [email protected] Litman, Director (2011) 952-935-1687 [email protected] Loftus, Director (2012) 763-639-3937 [email protected] Paquette, Director (2010) 651-450-9767 [email protected] Sprout, Director (2012) 612 338-3419 [email protected]
Presidents ReviewAs I look outside and see snow on the ground in October I wonder what happened to fall this year. Hopefully you all are doing well and will continue to do so with the onset of winter.I would like to remind everyone to get their seasonal flu shot as soon as possible. I called my coordinator about the mist / spray that our grand kids are getting and she recommended staying away from them for 2 weeks after they received it as it’s a live virus. A letter from the transplant center regarding H1N1 flu shots has been sent.Judy Vermeulen announced at the last board meeting she will be resigning as treasurer as of the first of the year. Judy has been active with Hope Chest News for 10 years plus, Judy & Frank are some of the pioneers of putting together this newsletter. In addition to being treasurer she has volunteered countless hours in organizing, overseeing many projects and fund raisers over those years. We are extremely appreciative of Judy’s great contributions, she will be missed!Earlier this year Harriette Wock resigned as a Hope Chest News board member which had been on for several years. Harriette was a past President, was involved in the setting up the 501c3 (tax status) as well help forming the Bi-Laws and Articles of incorporation. Harriette helped design and managed our website, she also was instrumental in fund raising campaigns. We wish Harriette well!Due to changes in the economy some of our members are seeing potential increases in their healthcare insurance on the horizon. Hopefully changes that are in the works in Washington will defray some of these costs and make matters more manageable. We have seen a slight increase in the support from Hope Chest News to families in need so in response we have lowered the annual amount any one person can receive in an effort to continue to help as many as possible.
We continue to look for ways to generate new revenue and would appreciate any help or ideas for new opportunities. If you have something in mind feel free to come to a meeting or contact a Board member.Again, it’s sad that we have lost transplant family members:Judy Johnson COPD Waiting passed away 12/23/08David Lee Knowles Alpha-1 transplanted 7/04/01 passed away 07/23/09Chuck Haganah IPF transplant 9/14/04 passed away 08/13/09
This was especially difficult for their family as Chuck lost his wife Donna 8 months before to cancer.
Ron Senn COPD transplanted 8/10/09 passed away 8/19/09
Our prayers go out to their families and to any others who have passed away that we are not aware of.
For those that haven’t been involved yet please consider joining us!
Take Care / Have some Fun!
Kip
Treasurer’s ReportSummer has come to a close at least in Minnesota and I think we have swung into Winter With summer we had our biggest fundraiser the Marie Anderson Memorial Golf Tournament. Closing out at $19,588.00.We have had a number of Bake Sales total for the year so far is $1400.00 We also have had a spring appeal that raised $690.00 and Pancake Breakfast $800.00We have helped with housing, drugs, transportation, and funeral baskets for 32 patients this year so far with approx. $23,500.00 With a sad heart I have come to the conclusion that after 12 years of service to the Newsletter and Hope Chest News as the treasurer that it is time for me to step down and concentrate on family. I will still be around and on the board but have to give up the duties that I have taken care of. HELP NEEDED !!We are need of a new treasurer. We have the books on Quickbooks Premier for Non- Profits accounting program; I will gladly work with anyone who would like to take it over. This position does not require you to be on the board but you would have to be at Board meetings.. The position comes with a computer and printer.
With love and good health to all !!Judy VermeulenTreasurer
Important NumbersThe following chart will help if you need assistance in one of the listed areas.
Purpose Who to Contact Phone Number E-Mail Address
Address or E-Mail Change Candace Sprout 612 338-3419 mandccando@earthlink.
net
In the Hospital Any Board member See list elsewhere
Financial AssistanceMarget Schmidtke, Thoracic Transplant Social Worker
612-273-5796 or1-800-478-5864
Heart\Lung Status Change Candace Sprout 612 338-3419 mandccando@earthlink.
netMentorship Program Ross House 763-593-9745 [email protected]
Obtain your Transplant Number Marget Schmidtke
612-273-5796 or1-800-478-5864
Heart Buttons Mary Paquette 651-450-9767 [email protected] Editor Ed Aubitz 952-457-8281 Eca123#comcast.net
* * * * *We don’t want to miss you…
Marget has short-term parking passes for the group meetings. So come to group and if you need one, just ask Marget. We don’t want anyone to stay away from meetings because of financial concerns.
* * * * *
Hope Chest News OnlineA reminder that Hope Chest News sponsors has an online Web page at:
www.hopechestnews.orgUpdates, current events, breaking news and ‘links’ to other lung or heart transplant sites are available there.
H1N1 Novel Influenza informationThere is a lot of media attention being given to the H1N1 influence situation. We all hear various stories, comments and rumors about how to deal with it. There are many good, reliable resources available on the Web. Below are a few ‘links’ you can use to reference the most up to date and accurate information. Note: The ‘links’ have been shortened from the original longer addressed to make it
easier to type! The Web page referenced is still the same one.Minnesota Department of Health Web site:
http://snipurl.com/si15nCenter for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
http://snipurl.com/rz4scUS Government H1N1 information center
http://www.flu.gov/In addition to these resources you should have received a letter from the University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview. This letter was sent to all Lung transplant patients. It summarizes what patients should know about the symptoms of the disease and preventative measures to take so you don’t get it.If you did not get the letter, or are interested in what it contained, you can view it at the following U of M Transplant Web site:
http://www.uofmtransplant.org/Look for a another ‘link’ titled Flu Vaccine Alert for Lung Transplant patients and click on it to see the actual letter.
Use of licorice by transplant patientsPeople taking the immunosuppressant cyclosporine should avoid consuming licorice because it may weaken the drug's effectiveness and possibly lead to deadly consequences, new research suggests. The following ‘link’ is to the full article in an issue of US News and World Report from earlier this year.
http://snipurl.com/sg9qd
Fund raising activities to dateFund Raising Items For Sale
Item Price Contact Phone # Email
Cookbooks $15.00 Judy Vermeulen 952-445-2497 [email protected] Tote Bag
$15.00 Judy Vermeulen 952-445-2497 [email protected]
Logo Jackets $35.00 Judy Vermeulen 952-445-2497 [email protected]
The following fund raising events were held since the last Newsletter in July:Bake Sale
Mary Paquette has organized two more Bake Sales, one on May 11th brought in $307 and one on July 13th which made $429.00. So far the Bake Sales have brought in over $1370 in 2009 and sold almost $200 in Raffle tickets. The next Bake Sale is planned for Monday, October 26 from 9 – 2PM in the hallway outside the Transplant Clinic in the Phillip Wagensteen Building (PWB). If you would like to help by baking something please contact Mary Paquette
Pancake BreakfastHal Wenaas spearheaded another Pancake Breakfast in Litchfield, Minnesota where he lives. The breakfast was held and sponsored by the Litchfield Eagles organization. This latest event raised about $500Thanks to both Mary and Hal for their work in organizing and holding these fund raising events and to all the Hope Chest News volunteers who helped make them happen especially Kathleen Hallinan and Judy Vermeulen who helped with the Bake Sale on July 13th while Mary was dealing with other priorities.
2009 Marie Anderson Memorial Golf TournamentHope Chest News held the 3rd Annual Marie Anderson Memorial Golf Scramble on July 27th. It was another unqualified success with120 golfers enjoying slightly changing weather and a new course, Columbia Golf Course in Minneapolis. The event generated income of over $19,500 for Hope Chest News programs.Full results follow and can be found on the Hope Chest News Web site.
http://www.hopechestnews.org1. Northland Fastening Godbout, Godbout, Godbout, Willson 582. Hals’ Friends Wenaas, Klimstra, Kadelbach, Minton 583. Rolnick, Johnson, Abrahamson VanderBloemen 614. J&R Diversified Kiecker, Stalboerger, Boes, Droubie 635. 3 Cops + a Marine White, Bandemer, Sandell, Payne 646. Tuttle, Tuttle, TBD, TBD 647. Harris, Foore, Nichols, Neutz 648. Defending Champs Hendrickson, Henderson, Raymond, Parnell 669. Gary Broberg’s Classmates 1 Brost, Carlson, Leiendecker, Howard 6610. Clough, Provo, Strandquist, Wilhelmson 6611. Gary Broberg’s Classmates 2 Webb, Husbands, Morgan, Pettygrove 6612. Stafford, Frederickson, Carlson, Sheehan 6613. Anderson, Anderson, Hardie, Meyer 6714. We’re Trying Wisdorf, Johnson, Michalak, Beckstead 6715. Contreras, Contreras, Knoll, Pew 6716. Panichi, Licari, Foltz, Heinrich 6717. Elmer, Kampinen, Kelly, Larson 6718. VERNantors Hallinan, Hallinan, Hallinan, Rada 7019. Broberg’s plus 2 Broberg, Broberg, Whelan, Schulz 7020. Opstad, Weldon, Cebulla, Cebulla 7021. Contreras, Abrahamson, Fairchild, Hartle 7222. Surgeons Plus One D'Cunha, Hertz, Jelnek 7323. Wenaas Family David, Alta, Crystal, Mary Jane 7324. Johnson, Vierow, Jackson, Martin 7425. M&Ms\Ben’s Four Wetherby, Wetherby, Benson, Hacka 7426. Nyman, Swanson, Baird, Glewwe 7427. Nervick, Nervick, Nervick, Nygaard 7628. Fearsome Foursome Grafstrom, Kofflin, Phillips, Cosgrove 7829. Reisner, Schirber 7830. Loftus, Loftus, Loftus, O'Mara 86Results of the on-course contests were:
Closest to Pin Men - David Wenaas Women - Cindy MichalakLongest drive Men - Jimmy Sheehan Women - Michelle Wetherby
Pictures from the event are posted online at the following ‘address’:http://snipurl.com/piqod
The winners of the raffle were:1. Michelle Wetherby $1,0002. Jodi Tracy $7503. Bob Kadelbach $500
U of M nurses respond to patients with Smartphones
The following article by Rob Olson was a special segment on the My Fox Twin Cities TV station and was Published Wednesday, 23 Sep 2009 on their Web site.You can read this article and view a video at the following ‘link’
http://snipurl.com/s8jtjMINNEAPOLIS - The nurses at the University of Minnesota Medical Center admit that at first they weren’t crazy about the new devices they got handed about six months ago. “These phones are bigger than most nurses want to carry around,” says Lynn Humann, longtime nurse at the hospital, “but the patient satisfaction’s been huge.”Now, there’s no way they’d part with them, nor would the patients.
“Sometimes they kind of joke because three people will come in and answer their call!”The phones use wireless internet technology and integrate with the equipment the hospital already uses. The old method, still in use at many hospitals, is that when a patient pushes their call button, someone at the nurse’s station answers. They then must relay the patients request to their nurse through a pager. It can take up to ten minutes for a nurse to respond to a patient’s request.Now, when a patient pushes their call button, it directly dials their nurse. They often answer within seconds. If they can’t, someone else will, because the same call goes to two other people.Linda Benassi, a patient who’s been treated at the U of M Medical Center for several years, says that under the old system of waiting for a nurse to be paged “I would get so annoyed laying in bed thinking when are they going to come in here and help me.” Now, she says, the response is nearly instantaneous.The point of the new technology is to increase efficiency and patient satisfaction. It’s working so far, says Dr. Amy Jonson, whose heard tons of feedback from patients that they haven’t had to wait nearly as long to get their pain medications. The phones also allow doctors to directly call a nurse, rather than also waiting for them to respond to a message passed through the nursing station.The U of M Medical Center has 225 of the ASCOM devices in use and are now seriously considering expanding them to other hospitals in the Fairview system.“I don’t see any downsides” says Dr. Jonson.
* * * * *Using the generic form of Prograf
As a transplant patient many of us are taking Prograf as our primary immunosuppressant. This is a very expensive medication and some insurance companies don’t pay as much of the cost as others. To address this Hope Chest News would like to tell you that there is at least one new generic form of the medication available from Novartis\Sandoz. It will become available soon and some insurance companies will require it to be used instead of PrografThe following are some points that were presented by Chris Martin from the Specialty Pharmacist of the U of M Fairview Clinic. He spoke at the Monday October 5th Lung Transplant Support Group meeting.Also, Marget Schmidtke, Lung Transplant Social Worker, gave the following guidance about switching to the generic form of Prograf1. Before you switch contact your transplant coordinator and make them
aware you are considering or being required to switch to the generic form of Prograf. They will want to check levels during the switch-over process
2. There is more than one generic form of the medication available. It will be important that your pharmacy stay with one brand and not switch back and forth each month. So, you should pay attention to the brand name or at least the look of the medication and make sure its consistent each time you have the prescription refilled. You should not switching between brands, that could affect levels.
3. In general the U of M Clinic staff are OK with switching when it is going to affect people pocketbooks. Prograf is vastly more expensive than the generic, so even if you were one of those patients that is paying 20% of the cost of the medication it would make a significant difference.
* * * * *The blessings of transplant
Marie Anderson stood out! She glimmered. Maybe it was just something innate. Her husband Wayne said so. She was always special; that’s why he married her. But after her lung transplant, she was even more radiant. She knew something that many of us have forgotten. She knew what a gift every breath and every day was. Marie wrote the following words about the blessings of transplant. Thank you Marie for reminding all of us.• For years, the field and the woods was a view from the dining room table. I now
can walk to the woods, pick a rock or a stick. Memories of finding the fox’s hollow, a sleeping deer.
• Just 10 days after transplant, the first time in so many years that I could talk, walk and breath all at the same time.
• Taking a shower by myself. Had a home health aid giving me showers before transplant. Do you know how difficult it is to have someone come into your house, a woman you have never met before and that person giving you a shower. It also didn’t matter if I was on 3 liters of oxygen or 5 liters of oxygen. Could not breath.
• No more weekly infusion therapies.• When you can’t breath, nothing else matters.• Being able to walk up the stairs of my house which I hadn’t been able to do for
over 2 years. • Making my husband’s brown bag lunch the evening after being discharged from
the hospital. No big task but was big deal for me.• There were so many bumps in the road for the first 10 months. I became very
angry and then remembered; I prayed for the transplant and being able to take a deep breath once again. I could breath and also had the strength to endure the major medical problems post transplant.
• Keep your dreams alive. I always stated, “after transplant I would purchase a new yellow “beetle” Volkswagen”. After transplant, living on disability income we were not able to buy such a car. On the second anniversary of being listed for transplant, I rented a “beetle” car for a weekend. How much better could it be —my daughter driving the car on 694, I’m in the passenger seat eating a fresh bagel smear and sipping my favorite coffee. Life is good!!!
• The next year, third anniversary of being listed for transplant, once again rented a car. This time it was a PT Cruiser. How sweet it was! Could not afford the purchase of a car but weekend rental was in the budget (I saved my pennies for this excursion).
• A family vacation in 1999. The first vacation we had taken for 12 years. Walking the shores of Lake Superior with my family. Each of us picking rocks, looking out into the horizon, seeing the ships off in the distance. A family photo from the Light House. Playing games, laughing, eating and reflecting on the past 2 years. My family is one of the richest blessings of life.
• Participating in the planning of my daughter’s wedding. Even included in the beginnings of the “stag” party.
• Dancing at my daughter’s wedding. The photographer even captured a picture of Wayne and I dancing. It had been sooooo many years ago.
• Meeting some of the nicest people in the world through our Lung Support Group. • Volunteering at LifeSource. Makes me feel part of the working world which I can
not return to as per the physicians. Speaking and spreading the news to one and all about the gift of life. Removing the myths through education we volunteers have received through training at LifeSource. Wonderful people work here.
• Support. The first anniversary of transplant. Inviting our family and friends to dinner at a restaurant to celebrate this gift of life. Telling our story. They, giving gifts of money for in honor of this celebration.
• Grandchildren. New life to love. New feet to guide. What more could anyone ask for.
• The laughter of friends, closeness of family.• Having the strength to help my daughters and their husbands pack their
belongings for moves to different houses. • Entertaining – resuming card club. We began with this group in 1969 and so
desperately wanted to reenter the social world. Dinner, playing cards, prizes. I did it!!!
• Eating. Before transplant it was difficult to consume any portion of food as it would be exhausting. Any amount of food, pressure on your diaphragm, would make it most difficult to breath. Struggling for every breath you take.
• Going with my family to “Mama Mia”. Standing during the encore, singing and crying “I’m Having the Time of My Life”. Truly I was.
• Walking side by side with others needing transplant so they never have to walk this journey alone.
• Faith, fight, family and friends have sustained me each and every day of life pre and post transplant.
• Each and every morning, I give thanks for my donor.I know not the dignity of my donor’s life, nor the tragedy of their death but I do know I received the greatest gift of all, the gift of life. Yesterday is history Tomorrow a mystery Today is a gift!!!They told me I would never live to see Christmas. Transplantation works. Every day is a gift. Every day is Christmas! Life is good!Marie Anderson - 01/12/04Editor’s Note: Marie was the first person who met me at the door on the first day of my evaluation week in 2004. She could see the ‘deer in the headlights’ look I had on my face and calmly introduced herself, led Sandy and I to chairs and welcomed us to the beginning of the journey. I will never forget that eventMarie passed away on June 22, 2005. Her spirit is still a part of this Hope Chest News organization. Marie’s words above capture many of the sentiments that I myself have felt since transplant. I would imagine she has touched on some of yours also. Let’s honor Marie’s memory and continue her work by spreading the word on donation and transplantation.
U of M Support Group Meetings: Evening meeting at 7:00 P.M. on the 1st Monday of each month. Weekly on Mondays at 11:00 A.M. (no meeting the 1st Monday of the month).These meetings are held in the Lillehei Conference Room which can be found by:
o Entering the main entrance of the U of M Hospital - Fairview o Take the elevator down to level 1 (you are level 2 at the lobby)o Turn and walk in the direction of the glass windows of the Pediatric MRI
and Sedation Centero Turn right and go down the corridor through an automatic roll-up dooro You will pass a shipping and receiving area on the left, keep going!o The Lillehei Conference Room will be on the left after the shipping area
Caregivers Support Group: First Monday of the month at 6:00 p.m. prior to the regular Support Group.Sioux Falls Support Group: Contact June Schnieder at 605-339-3067Hope Chest News Board MeetingsThe Hope Chest News board of Directors holds its monthly meeting on the 3rd Monday of each month in the 8th floor hospital conference room in the luncheon area from 12:30PM to 2:00PM. This is the “Bridges” Conference room. We encourage participation from all HCN patients.
Marie AndersonMemorial Golf Scramble
Benefiting:
Hope Chest NewsProceeds from this event will be used to provide financial
assistance to University of Minnesota Lung Transplant recipients, waiters, and Care
Givers
NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE
PAIDMINNEAPOLIS MNPERMIT NO 31185
HOPE CHEST NEWSPATIENT NEWSLETTEREd Aubitz161 East 105th Street CircleBloomington, MN 55420
Address Service Requested
