Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507100088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAURICE A. WILLIAMS III STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
William Schilling was on a waiting list for a heart transplant for more than two months. But the six hours he waited for doctors to determine if a potential donor's heart was compatible were more agonizing, he said.
``I started sweating. I was smothering myself,'' he recalled. ``I was a nervous wreck.''
Schilling, 49, of Roanoke, was admitted to Lewis-Gale Hospital in February 1990 for a potassium deficiency. However, doctors discovered he needed a heart transplant, without which he would have less than a year to live.
``It didn't dawn on me at that time. It hit me when I got home,'' he said. ``I came home and I had my pity party.''
Doctors put Schilling's name on the waiting list for a transplant in March. He said he didn't think twice about having the operation. ``I jumped in with both feet.''
On June 8, the hospital called him at 11:30 a.m. saying they had a possible match. Later that day, Schilling and his father were on their way to the University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville. By 4:30 a.m. on June 9, and for four hours afterward, he said, ``I was under the knife.''
He awoke the next day to find he could hardly move.
``My arms felt like weights,'' he said.
Because his breastbone had been severed for the transplant, he needed to hold a pillow over his chest to cough. He forgot to do that once. ``I coughed real hard and it felt like my chest was going to explode,'' he recalled.
Schilling spent the next two days in intensive care and was released a week after the operation.
The heart he'd received was flown in from Roanoke Memorial Hospital. That's one of the few facts he's been told about the donor, since the organ donor process is based on confidentiality.
Recently, Schilling wrote a letter thanking the unknown donor and his family. His childhood friend, Sandye Fifer, placed it in The Roanoke Times, hoping someone would recognize it and contact him. She and her daughter, Sammie, also placed a notice wishing Schilling a ``Happy Fifth Birthday.''
Fifer and Schilling had met as children. Fifer's father owned a plumbing business and Schilling's father was one of his employees. ``We used to play in the ditches while our daddies worked,'' Schilling said. ``We got more dirt in the ditches than our daddies got out.''
The friends lost contact for 40 years but were reunited in January when Schilling, all unknowing, visited Fifer's store. Fifer, a 13-year rescue squad veteran, owns Unsung Heroes, a fire and rescue collectibles and supply store in Vinton. Schilling, a former truck driver who was with the Craigs Creek Volunteer Fire Department for three years, has collected fire station memorabilia since 1972.
Since that chance reunion in January, the two have been catching up. Schilling has helped decorate Fifer's store by donating some of his memorabilia. Fifer sometimes drives him to doctor's appointments in Charlottesville.
Schilling, who had one kidney and half of the other removed in 1992, said the five years since the transplant have been a struggle.
``It's psychological to have someone's heart ticking inside of you,'' he said. ``It's a very strange thing. I can have a heart attack and not know it,'' said Schilling, referring to his nerves' lack of response to the sensations. His rib cage is held together by sternal wires he calls ``coat hangers'' that show up on X-rays.
Heart transplants rank third in frequency in the United States, behind kidney and liver transplants. Recipients with A or B blood types generally wait six months to a year, while those with blood type O can expect to wait two years or more.
But receiving a transplant goes beyond matching blood types, said Carol Ballew, coordinator of the Cardiopulmonary Transplant Office at the UVa medical center.
``It depends on how long our waiting list is,'' Ballew said.
The hospital recently has had an influx of type A donors, so patients with that blood type have had shorter waits, she said.
According to the National Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network, there were 3,223 people waiting for transplants in mid-June. In 1994, 2,340 heart transplants were performed.
Ballew said studies have proven that the more transplants a hospital handles, the greater its success rate is. ``If you do more than 15 a year, your statistics are better,'' Ballew said.
While physically, Schilling has had a successful recovery, experiencing only one rejection spell, the process does not end with the transplant. He takes 10 medications a day and travels to Charlottesville every three months for regular checkups.
``Financially, mentally, it's tough on you. It takes a lot out of you,'' Schilling said. He had no idea of the day-to-day struggles he would face, but it's been easier with the help of family and friends, he said.
``You have to have the support of your family, which I have had. They've been good to me,'' he said.
Schilling also hasn't forgotten the hospital and its staff. ``They're the ones who helped me through this.''
Ballew said the hospital has a department that can forward material to the families of donors. She said sometimes donor families write recipients and they eventually meet each other.
Schilling said he plans to send the hospital the letter that was published in the newspaper.
``This is the first thing I've done. I appreciate what he did. I just wanted to thank the gentleman's family.
``He gave me a second chance on life.''
by CNB