From death, a new life blooms.Byline: Jeff Wright Jeff Wright can refer to:
There were the years of constant fatigue and shortness of breath Shortness of Breath Definition Shortness of breath, or dyspnea, is a feeling of difficult or labored breathing that is out of proportion to the patient's level of physical activity. , the heart attack at age 11, the collapse from exhaustion on her high school graduation night. And still, Krystal Nichols wasn't sure she wanted the risky heart-lung transplant The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. that could change her life. And then she got the phone call from Crystal Houser. Houser, 21, made the call last spring from Stanford University Medical Center Stanford University Medical Center (Stanford Hospital & Clinics) is one of four hospitals affiliated with Stanford University and Stanford University School of Medicine, along with the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, and Santa , where she was recuperating from her own rare heart-lung transplant surgery. "The first thing I asked her was, `How bad is the scar?' ' Nichols said Tuesday at her grandmother's home in Eugene. "She said it was hardly noticeable, and that the surgery didn't hurt all that much, and how good it was to be able to run around without getting out of breath, and how she was wearing her mom out for the first time. "She was just so excited about her life." The two young women learned they had even more in common than their first names and medical history. They discovered they both liked to draw, and were considering careers in psychology. They liked to swim, and talked of a joint swim party once Houser returned to Eugene from the hospital in California. Only a few weeks later, Crystal Houser was dead. Her new heart and lungs seemed fine, her death unexpected and quick. An autopsy revealed she died from a reaction to medicine prescribed to guard against her body's rejection of its new organs. The cruel turn of events continues to haunt Houser's family, who have found solace in the organization they created in her name. The Crystal Foundation's mission is to help other families struggling with the overwhelming financial and emotional stress that comes when a child needs a new heart and lungs. The foundation's first beneficiary: Krystal Nichols and family. Nichols suffered from an elevated type of pulmonary hypertension Pulmonary Hypertension Definition Pulmonary hypertension is a rare lung disorder characterized by increased pressure in the pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery carries oxygen-poor blood from the lower chamber on the right side of the heart (right - a hole in her heart. Doctors initially diagnosed her ailments as asthma - until she suffered that heart attack at age 11. Her heart was four times too large, her lungs woefully woe·ful also wo·ful adj. 1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful. 2. Causing or involving woe. 3. Deplorably bad or wretched: small. She looked and felt pale most of the time. But inspired by Houser's phone call, Nichols decided to seek the surgery - and refused to let even Houser's death sway her otherwise. When Houser died, "I just got really scared," Nichols said. "But I'd already decided to do it. I just remembered her saying how happy she was, being able to breathe and have fun and go places." Nichols officially registered as a transplant recipient on Sept. 20, knowing she could expect to wait two years or longer. Instead, at 6 a.m. on Oct. 24, she got the phone call - and was so shocked by the news that she initially hung up on the doctor on the other end. "He said, `We have a donor,' and I said, `No, you don't.' I just didn't think it was going to happen so soon." Rushed to Stanford via private jet, Nichols was in surgery by 10 that night. The donor, she learned, was a 19-year-old male from California who liked sports, didn't abuse drugs and was killed in a car accident. The surgery was successful, though Nichols wasn't allowed to return home until this past Saturday - her 19th birthday. The smallest pleasures - going to Wal-Mart with her grandma, being able to pick up her 1-year-old nephew - are enough to brighten bright·en tr. & intr.v. bright·ened, bright·en·ing, bright·ens To make or become bright or brighter. bright her animated face. She almost didn't make it. Like Houser, Nichols had a severe reaction to some of the post-surgery medicines she was required to take. Transplant recipients have to squelch squelch v. squelched, squelch·ing, squelch·es v.tr. 1. To crush by or as if by trampling; squash. 2. their natural immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. , which otherwise could reject the transplanted organs. Her life in the balance, Nichols said she had a dream or near-death experience near-death experience, phenomenon reported by some people who have been clinically dead, then returned to life. Descriptions of the experience differ slightly in detail from person to person, but usually share some basic elements: a feeling of being outside one's in the hospital in which she was greeted by several deceased family members - and a girl with blond hair she didn't recognize. Nichols said she wanted to go with the family members and girl, who made it clear to her that "it was not my time" to join them. Nichols believes the girl was the blond-haired Houser. With the proverbial new lease on life, Nichols said she has big plans - and not just to hike Skinner Butte Skinner Butte (also called Skinner's Butte) is a prominent hill on the north edge of downtown Eugene, Oregon, United States, near the Willamette River. Skinner Butte is a local landmark and the location of Skinner Butte Park, a municipal park. this summer. She wants to go to college and study to become a pediatric pediatric /pe·di·at·ric/ (pe?de-at´rik) pertaining to the health of children. pe·di·at·ric adj. Of or relating to pediatrics. nurse - like the ones who assisted her after her pre-teen heart attack. She also has found a new cause - the need for everyone, especially young people, to sign up as organ donors organ donor Transplantation A person/cadaver that donates his/her organ(s) to a recipient . "Their organs can help out even more than an older person's," she said. Her new outlook is captured in the many butterflies she finds herself drawing. Before the transplant, she said, she felt like a caterpillar - "ugly, sick and gross." The transplant and hospital stay, she said, represented her cocoon cocoon: see pupa. stage. Now she's a butterfly. "You develop and get to have fun," she said. Such sentiments bring a smile to Nichols' mother, Terri Schuetze, who said she thrills at "just seeing how good she looks." And there are other blessings: "I'm not afraid to leave the house. I'm not thinking, `Is she going to be here tomorrow?' ' While not one to mention it, Schuetze acknowledges that the financial burdens still remain. She is only now getting back to work as a locker room attendant at the Downtown Athletic Club The Downtown Athletic Club was an athletic club in a 35-story building located at 19 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It was founded in 1926. By 1927, it had purchased this site next to the Hudson River to construct its own building. , after taking off six months to be with her daughter. She and her husband, a sheetmetal worker, have been without electricity for two months because of delinquent payments on their utility bill. The Crystal Foundation has helped them in the past - providing the money to rent a car and motel, for example, so that Schuetze and her daughter could take advantage of a hospital leave and visit relatives in Oregon last Christmas. "It was important that they all be together then, because you never know when it's your last Christmas," said Hope Anderson, Houser's mother and the foundation's moving force. The foundation's funds are nearly depleted de·plete tr.v. de·plet·ed, de·plet·ing, de·pletes To decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out. [Latin d right now, but Anderson said she hopes to attract new donations and organize new fund-raisers. She and other family members also have made hundreds of crystal mobiles in Houser's memory that they hope to sell to raise funds. The foundation, Anderson said, is her daughter's legacy - and her new life's work Life's Work is a sitcom that aired from 1996 to 1997 on the American Broadcasting Company channel that starred Lisa Ann Walter as Lisa Ann Minardi Hunter, the assistant district attorney who had a husband named Kevin Hunter . "It's not really an option to fail at it," she said. "I don't want anyone to ever forget my daughter." Through the pain of her own loss, Anderson said she's delighted for Nichols and her family. "I prayed I beg; I request; I entreat you; - used in asking a question, making a request, introducing a petition, etc.; as, Pray, allow me to go s>. See also: Pray every day that my Crystal would help their Krystal, because I knew what they were going through," she said. Nichols never met Houser in person - just over the phone and, perhaps, in a revealing dream. But her influence, she said, has been a life-changer. If Houser walked into her house today, "I'd give her a hug and tell her thank you," Nichols said, "because I don't think I would have had the transplant if not for her." CRYSTAL FOUNDATION Agency offers financial help to families coping with heart-lung transplants How to donate: Mail checks to Crystal Foundation, P.O. Box 40203, Eugene, OR 97404, or deliver to any Key Bank branch More information: Call 517-1430, send e-mail to crystalfoundation@msn.com or visit www.crystalfoundation.org online CAPTION(S): Nineteen-year-old Krystal Nichols (left) gets some good-natured teasing teasing the act of parading a male before a female to see if she displays estrus, and is therefore in a state where mating is likely to be fertile. from her mother, Terri Schuetze. For Schuetze, her daughter's successful heart-lung transplant now means "I'm not afraid to leave the house. I'm not thinking, `Is she going to be here tomorrow?' ' Hope Anderson listens as Krystal Nichols talks about how Anderson's daughter inspired her. Hope Anderson Weeks before her surgery, Crystal Houser (left) celebrates Mother's Day at Stanford with her mother, Hope Anderson. M e d i c i n e |
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