THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502140134
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Lacy, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and flowery cards are the stuff most romantics' dreams are made of on Valentine's Day, but for Linda Fellers, they're old hat now.
``I've got my own Valentine - I've got the world - this is Valentine's Day,'' said the 55-year-old Virginia Beach woman, placing both hands over the center of her chest. She is glad, she says, to be alive one year after receiving a donor heart to replace her own failing one.
Last Feb. 14, Fellers woke up in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with a new heart pumping away in her chest. Her first words were, ``I'm alive, and my heart likes me,'' she recalled. ``It was Valentine's Day and I was happy - euphoric.
``There is no better gift except maybe all these people here to help me celebrate,'' said Fellers, gesturing toward the 50 friends and relatives who gathered Sunday at Great Neck Cafe to mark the first anniversary of her new heart.
Fellers had undergone 10 bypass operations when doctors told her that there was nothing more they could do except put her on the waiting list for a donor heart.
``When I was 50, they said I would never see 57,'' Fellers said Sunday. ``I'm not there yet, but I will be,'' said the cheerful mother of four.
Feller's parents had both died of heart disease - her father at 58, her mother at 67. When the call came last Feb. 12 telling her to come to the hospital, she had already waited three years.
The donor organ came from a 44-year-old woman who had been struck by a truck as she walked along Virginia Beach Boulevard in the dark and rain, said Fellers. Doctors found that the harvested heart was a ``perfect match'' and early on the morning of Feb. 13, doctors put it in Fellers' chest.
It marked the end of a long roller-coaster ride for Fellers, who twice during her wait had been called into the hospital only to learn that the donor heart was not suitable for transplant.
In fact, during the first year of her wait, she had been taken to the operating room and anesthetized, only to wake hours later to be told that she still had her own failing heart.
After doctors subjected that donor heart to a barrage of tests to see whether Fellers' body might accept it, they held the heart in their hands and ``felt a calcium deposit deep inside.'' So Fellers went back to her Cape Story home and kept waiting.
``Sure, you go through depression, but I never gave up,'' said the former art teacher. She credits her stamina to devoted family and friends, including partner Wayne Taylor, who has helped her through the difficult year after surgery.
``It was a tough wait, but she was always cheerful, positive,'' said Taylor.
``You can tell by the glow'' on her face that she couldn't have gotten a better Valentine's Day gift, said friend John McCaughan, another heart transplant patient who helped Fellers celebrate Sunday.
``This Valentine's Day, like the last - and ones in the future - are much more meaningful, now,'' added Taylor. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by NANCY LEWIS
Transplant recipients Linda Fellers and John McCaughan have no need
for candy hearts or lacy Valentine's Day cards - they have received
real new hearts.
KEYWORDS: TRANSPLANT by CNB