Heart & Hope Family Has Fervent Christmas Wish That Woman Will Recover After Heart Transplant

Last Friday, Karen Bray’s family dismantled the Christmas tree in her hospital room.

They braided her hair, held her hand and waited anxiously for a strong new heart.

They hoped for a Christmas miracle. After four months in the intensive care unit - and nearly four years of illness - the Valley woman’s long wait for a heart transplant might finally be over.

If it went well, the 36-year-old could be home with her parents, husband and children by Christmas. Her mom hoped to take her to see holiday lights.

Now, her family is simpley praying she’ll be alive.

“She’s fighting. She’s trying really hard,” said Tab Bray, Karen’s husband. “But, she’s really scared.”

The donor heart implanted into Karen eight days ago was healthy, strong and a good match for her, her doctors said.

“I would have thought this heart would have started out like a rocket,” said her heart surgeon, Dr. Timothy Icenogle.

Instead, the heart became sluggish, threatening Karen’s life and damaging her lungs, kidneys, liver and pancreas. Doctors say they don’t know why the heart reacted the way it did.

“They didn’t think they were going to save her Friday night,” said Carol Walters, Karen’s mom.

The family, she said, remains scared, but hopeful.

“Maybe God has a struggle in store for us,” Walters said. “But I don’t believe he brought us this far to let us down.”

Bray has suffered from heart problems since 1994, when a severe cold caused her immune system to attack her own body. The rare condition, called idiopathic cardiomyopathy, damaged her heart and forced her to get a pacemaker and defibrillator.

Her heart weakened, until it could no longer pump enough blood to keep her alive. Last summer, doctors ordered her into the intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

She couldn’t leave until she got a transplant.

Her family visited every day. They decorated her hospital room for Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. They celebrated family birthdays there. They hauled in a Thanksgiving feast, using two large coolers.

Last month, Karen and her husband celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in a hospital room.

Each day, Karen knew she might be hours from a new heart. Twice, in October and November, doctors told the family to prepare for surgery.

“We were all so excited,” said Walters, who spent those tense days waiting with her daughter.

Unfortunately, both hearts had been exposed to hepatitis, and Karen hadn’t yet received her final vaccination shot.

“We had a lot of crying after that,” Walters said.

Last Friday morning, the family faced their third try. They tried not to get excited. Maybe it wouldn’t be a good match, they thought. Maybe fog, which had socked in the Spokane International Airport, would prevent Icenogle from getting the organ.

“It was dicey,” admitted Icenogle, who finally had to catch a chartered flight out of Coeur d’Alene to get to the hospital where the donor was on life support.

He tested the heart and removed it himself. It came from a donor somewhere in the Northwest, he said. He wouldn’t give additional details, citing confidentiality policies.

Back in Spokane, Karen’s family kept busy taking down decorations in the room that had been Karen’s home for more than four months.

On one trip out to her car, Walters found herself face to face with Icenogle. He was walking very fast, and carrying a little red cooler.

She knew he was carrying her daughter’s life.

“He smiled and just kept on going,” she said.

About 20 friends and family members spent Friday night at the hospital. By 10:30 p.m., the transplant was complete.

The family has been living in waiting rooms ever since. At first, Karen couldn’t have visitors, not even her mother or husband. They waved at her from glass windows that look into the room.

Now, if they wear masks and wash their hands, adults can go inside.

Tab’s hands are red and chapped from scrubbing.

“I’d take the skin off, if that’s what it takes to get in there,” he said.

Karen’s three children still must stay outside. They carry too many germs from school and other activities to be safe for her.

Doctors say their mother has serious lung damage, and possibly pneumonia. Fortunately, her kidney damage has stopped escalating and her pancreas is improving slightly.

But to mitigate the organ damage, doctors had to take her off some of the drugs that prevent her body from rejecting her new heart.

Her condition, they said, remains life threatening.

Still, the family is hopeful. When she recovers, they said, Karen plans to give talks about organ donation.

“She has a pillow on her chest, and you can see the new heart beat,” Walters said.

It’s very strong, she said, just like her daughter.

“She just can’t give up,” Walters said. “We won’t let her.”

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