Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 26, 1992 TAG: 9201240040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
WAITING FOR A HEART
Carol England has a new friend.It's an intravenous stand she named Eunice.
She takes it walking with her through the halls of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., where she is awaiting a heart transplant.
England, a native of West Virginia who has made her home in Dublin, came up with the name because of an incident more than a decade ago.
She was shopping with her daughter, Rhonda, who was a college student at the time. Rhonda grabbed her mother's arm in a department store and said, "Hello, Eunice," as if they were old friends meeting again for the first time in years. It gave her a laugh.
England, who was transferred to Duke by her doctor in Radford, is given blood thinner and medication intravenously. So Eunice and England are never apart.
England, 53, isn't dwelling on her pending transplant, despite having to take insulin shots twice a day for the diabetes she's had for 19 years.
She starts each day with a positive outlook and wants to share what she's learned with others, she said in a telephone interview from her hospital room.
"Carol has the best outlook. She's in good spirits," said her mother, Edna Roberts of Dublin. Roberts and her son-in-law, Eugene, drive the 3 1/2 hours once a week to visit her. And the family calls her as often as possible, sharing the expense, Roberts said.
Once a heart is found, they plan to stay near the hospital so they can be close to Carol during and after the transplant. Until then, they are conserving their finances, she said.
England is encouraging everyone to get involved in the donor program, which is as simple as filling out the back of your driver's license.
"I never filled out my donor card. I never thought of the seriousness of it."
The nurses at Duke gave England a badge that says, "Don't send your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them down here."
It made her think about what a difference checking the donor box on the license could make to someone's life, she said.
"Until you're put into these situations, you don't think about it."
Her mother said she couldn't explain how she felt when she discovered her daughter needed a new heart.
"It seems like a dream," she said. Talking about her daughter brought tears to her eyes, but, like Carol, she has put her faith in God.
England also wants to tell people, especially women, not to take those little aches and pains for granted, but to listen to what their body says.
England was the communications services manager at Radford University for 12 years but had to quit in December and apply for disability.
She said she still kicks herself for not listening to her body. For about three years she had coughing spells and periodic pain in her ears and shoulder blades, but she passed them off as insignificant aches that would sort themselves out.
Finally, everything came to a head two days before Christmas 1990. England was up all night coughing and having shortness of breath. She thought it was pneumonia, she said.
She went to the emergency room, where she was given medication to relieve the pneumonia. When that didn't work, doctors realized her heart was the problem.
England was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart. The organ was using only 40 percent of its capacity, she said. Two arteries were completely blocked and one was partially blocked, she said.
With medication, exercise and a new diet she thought her condition would improve. But by September, her heart was down to 20 percent of function.
At Duke, she was told a bypass wouldn't help because the heart itself was damaged, she said. However, when doctors told her she was a prime candidate for a transplant, she was jubilant.
"I felt wonderful because I'd had no other alternative. It was a relief," she said.
England was admitted to Duke on Jan. 5 where she will stay until a compatible heart is found. Her heart is functioning at 17 percent and a new one could take a long time to find, she said.
Although England is covered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance, she will still be left with bills for up to $80,000, said Kathy Nester, a friend and former co-worker. Medication after the transplant will cost from $10,000 to $13,000 a year, she said.
England, who has two grown children, Rhonda, 33, and Ed, 27, recently saw her only grandson, who is 5, for the first time since she went to Duke, she said.
She doesn't think about dying but has accepted it as a possibility.
"I have such a good relationship with the Lord," she said. "I know where I'm going."