Affair Of The Heart A Devastating Virus Has Left Once-Active Valley Woman Waiting For A Transplant
Tab Bray has a simple dream: to see his 36-year-old wife jump out of bed and start dancing again.
Just three years ago, Karen Bray was a heck of a two-stepper. The Spokane Valley woman hiked and camped and played softball. She had boundless energy that seemed impossible to sap.
Then, a virus stole her heart.
Karen now lives in a small room in the intensive care unit of Sacred Heart Medical Center. She relies on strong medications, injected into her chest intravenously, to ward off heart failure. She has two pacemakers and a defibrillator surgically implanted under her skin. She waits - with anticipation and terror - for the heart transplant that will allow her to return home to Tab, her three children, and a normal life.
“If someone would have told me this was going to happen five years ago, I would have told them they were crazy,” said Karen, who barely has the energy and breath to take a short walk down the hospital corridor.
And it all stemmed from a bad cold.
It’s called idiopathic cardiomyopathy, and it occurs when the immune system goes into overdrive, attacking the body as well as the invading virus. It’s a rare but deadly condition, said Dr. Timothy Icenogle, a Spokane heart surgeon.
“We have had patients, usually young women, who are healthy on Monday and near death on Wednesday,” Icenogle said.
The scary part is that is can happen to anybody. And, he said, there’s no way to know which virus will trigger it.
It was fall of 1994 when Karen Bray came down with an especially severe cold. The busy mom had three active kids and a full-time job as a restaurant manager. She attributed the lingering fatigue and shortness of breath to her hectic lifestyle.
“I didn’t even think about going to the doctor,” Karen said. “At 32, you don’t think a cold is going to affect your heart.”
Three months later, while Karen prepared to give blood, a nurse checked her heart rate. It sounded so irregular, the nurse sent her to the Heart Institute of Spokane.
Within weeks, a surgeon implanted a pacemaker to keep Karen’s heart beating regularly. He implanted a defibrillator to kick-start her heart if it suddenly stopped.
That kick-start hurts an awful lot, Icenogle said. “It’s akin to being hit in the chest by a baseball bat by Jay Buhner.”
Karen has felt that stinging blow about 20 times so far. She’s been in and out of the hospital for heart failure more times than she can count.
And her heart kept getting weaker. Finally, it could no longer squeeze enough blood through her system to keep her alive. Eight weeks ago, she walked into the intensive-care unit knowing she wouldn’t leave without a new heart.
Karen could remain there well into the new year, dependent upon medication to keep her heart beating. Physicians are monitoring her liver, kidneys and lungs, which are at risk of failing if she doesn’t get a heart soon. If they discover organ damage, they’ll have to put her on a heart machine.
The waiting is terrible, said Karen, who shares her hospital bed with a big stuffed dog and other animal toys brought by friends and loved ones. Her family has plastered her tiny room with cards, photos and colorful paper parrots. They try to keep her upbeat and busy.
“They taught me how to latch-hook, bead, upholster and color posters,” she said, pointing to her many completed projects.
But they can’t shield her from reality.
“I’m scared to death,” said Karen, unable to hold back her tears.
The young woman has shared many of them in that small room - with Tab; their children, Jason, 18, Heather, 14, and Melissa, 12; and her parents and friends.
They’re tears of fear and anger and exhaustion.
Tab is now working two jobs and caring for his children alone. He visits Karen at least once each day.
“He’ll come in at midnight and rub her back until she gets to sleep,” said Karen’s mother, Carol Walters. “He’ll stop by early in the morning and just watch her through the window.”
“I miss my wife,” said Tab, her husband of 20 years. “I miss being in bed with her. I miss going places with her, just spending time with her. I’d sell my soul to get her well.”
Each month Karen spends in intensive care costs $75,000. If she has to wait six months for a compatible heart and has to go on a heart machine before the transplant, the bill could easily hit $1 million, Icenogle said.
The Brays are fortunate to have good medical coverage. But even good coverage, Icenogle said, can leave families with substantial debt.
Tab admits he doesn’t have enough time or emotional energy to worry about such things. He has grocery shopping to do. He has his son’s football games to videotape for Karen. He has plans to make.
His dream is to take Karen and the kids on a vacation after her recovery: their first getaway in four years. They’ll head down the Oregon coast and just enjoy its beauty. Karen will tromp through the forest again, he said, and maybe even dance a little.
He draws his hope from Sacred Heart’s success rate. Eighty-five percent of heart transplant patients survive at least five years. Most return to normal, active lives.
A recent transplant patient from Chewelah has even started square-dancing again.
“I know it’s going to happen,” Tab said.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 4 photos (2 color)
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WANT TO HELP? Each month Karen Bray spends in intensive care costs $75,000. If she has to wait six months for a compatible heart and has to go on a heart machine before the transplant, the bill could easily hit $1 million, her doctor said. A fund has been set up at Farmers and Merchants Bank to help the Bray family while it waits for Karen’s heart transplant. Donations, made to the “Karen Bray Trust” can be dropped off at any branch. For more information on organ donation, or to get a donor card, call LifeCenter Northwest at 1-888-543-3287.