Trusting Her Heart Transplant Recipient Is Learning To Rely On New Organ

Karen Bray breathes in a deep, satisfying breath. She kicks off her comfy black and white cow slippers and laces on a pair of walking shoes. She grabs a white germ mask and heads out the door.

For the 36-year-old Valley woman, every step is a miracle.

For years, the mother of three didn’t have the breath, or the energy, for a brisk walk on a chilly winter afternoon. A rare illness called idiopathic cardiomyopathy had turned her heart into a large, soggy mass, too weak to keep her alive. Her only chance at survival was a long-awaited heart transplant.

Karen got that transplant on Dec. 12, but nearly died from complications. Her new heart went into shock, catapulting her kidneys, liver and pancreas into failure. By Christmas, pneumonia had filled her lungs and forced her onto a respirator.

Her husband, Tab, packed up all of Karen’s Christmas presents, along with his own, and hoped for the day they could open them together.

Many doubted that celebration would ever happen.

“Even the doctors said, ‘It’s in God’s hands,”’ Karen said.

But on Jan. 18, Christmas finally arrived.

After six months at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Karen went home with her parents, who will care for her until she’s able to take care of herself and her family at her own house. She opened her gifts with her husband, and started the long journey to recovery.

For the next year, she’ll work at building her strength, and her trust in her new heart. She’ll face the constant threat of germs and organ rejection, and a constant flow of pills and lab tests.

Her goal is to create a new “normal” life, she said, and eventually, to volunteer her time with other transplant patients.

“She has a long way to go,” said Carol Walters, Karen’s mother. “But she’s come a long way for a little gal they didn’t think would make it.

“Our family has had several medical catastrophes,” Walters said, “but I always felt God had another miracle in store for us.”

For Karen, the weeks after the transplant passed like a dream. One of her first memories is of a nurse asking her if she knew what day it was.

The nurse said, “Christmas.”

Karen, who felt terrible, replied, “Big deal.”

She remembers being almost too weak to raise a pinky to wave at her children, who watched her through a glass window inside the hospital. When she left Sacred Heart last month, she barely had the energy to open two of her many Christmas gifts.

“At first, I couldn’t even put my shoes on,” said Bray, who lost 30 pounds during her time in the intensive care unit.

Today, she’s strong enough to take two or three brisk half-mile walks each day through her parents’ neighborhood south of Spokane. Her heart beats strong, so strong, it often surprises her.

“I have to learn to trust this heart,” Bray said. “I’m still very scared of it.”

For several weeks after arriving home, Karen was too afraid to sleep by herself. She thought the new heart might simply stop, or go into shock again. Her parents have now attached a battery operated doorbell to the side of her bed, so she can call for help if she needs it.

Her days are filled with therapy and lab tests. She takes nearly 30 pills a day, a mixture of antibiotics, anti-rejection and blood pressure drugs. To keep her body from rejecting the new heart, doctors have suppressed her immune system, leaving her vulnerable to viruses and germs. Even a cold could leave her seriously ill.

“It’s unreal how we look at germs now,” Karen said. “We carry alcohol pads in our pockets. I use a napkin to touch the salt or pepper.

One of her biggest fears, she said, is grocery shopping. She knows the handles of the shopping baskets are covered with germs. She knows every rail or doorknob could harbor a virus.

For at least four months, she must wear a germ mask whenever she leaves the house. Guests, including her children, must wear them when they enter. She knows it will bring stares. She got several last week during her first post-transplant visit to the beauty salon.

Still, just getting out is exhilarating for Karen. After six months in a hospital room, she took her first drive through the Valley in January, and was shocked at what she saw.

“I’d never seen the mall open, or the Toys ‘R’ Us,” she said. “All the new buildings … At one point, I was almost lost.”

She hopes to return to her Valley home east of Millwood within the next few months. It feels strange to be living with her parents again, and to have Tab simply coming by to visit.

“I feel like I’m dating a guy with three kids,” Karen joked.

“Sometimes, I want to pull my hair out,” her husband added. “We have two teenage girls and they have all these questions…”

Laughter, Walters said, has kept the family sane though the tough times. The cost of Karen’s transplant, along with medications and more than five months in intensive care, could come close to $1 million, doctors said.

Even with good health insurance, the family faces many very large bills.

But they refuse to let it tame their joy, or thankfulness.

This week, Karen plans to pick out a thank you card for the donor’s family. She’s not sure what she’ll say, but she wants them to know how grateful she is.

She’ll send the note through LifeCenter Northwest, which will keep the donor’s name secret unless his family requests otherwise. Karen hopes the family will write her back.

“I think I would like to meet them,” she said.

Until then, she’ll work at creating her new life. Thanks to Sacred Heart, she now has a second “birth certificate,” complete with a new Dec. 12 birthday. She plans to hang on to her old one, also. That way, she said, she’ll get two parties a year.

Parties aside, Karen said her new life will include lots of simple but important things. Things like deep breaths. And brisk walks.

“I just want to go home and take care of my family,” she said. “I want to be living proof for those who aren’t sure about donating.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (1 Color)