Inverness offshore worker received lung transplant at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle
Results from a routine medical in 2014 suggested John Wallace from Culloden should visit his GP.
Then in his 40s, the offshore worker was told he had the lungs of a 90-year-old. He was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Within two years his weight had dropped to 6.5 stone and his name was on the lung transplant list.
Hope was raised when a set of lungs became available. That meant an early morning air ambulance from Inverness to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, but on arrival, with his then partner Ann by his side, he received bad news; the lungs were diseased.
Over the following days, John’s health deteriorated to a point where returning to Inverness without a transplant was no longer an option. He began to come to terms with dying hundreds of miles away from family and friends.
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Hopes were raised a second time, only to be dashed when it transpired that just a single lung was available. Still deteriorating, John was put onto an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine to keep him alive. This, as John’s gallows humour suggests, was his ‘last gasp’.
With time seriously running out, even his sense of humour began to desert him. In his role offshore, John was used to being in charge. If Plan A failed, there would always be a Plan B, or C. But here, he was hooked to a machine, clock ticking, in circumstances beyond his control.
Unpalatable as it seems, John was having to wait for an otherwise healthy person to die so he could live beyond the end of the week.
Nearby, a young man called Richard had been playing video games with his pals when he began to feel unwell. He suffered a brain haemorrhage and died in Intensive Care.
“My consultant came into my room and said, ‘I’ve got a bloody good set of lungs for you. They’re too big, but I’ll make them fit.’ I had absolute confidence in him, and he was as good as his word,” John recalled.
With Ann nervously waiting for him, John endured a nine-hour surgery.
Within a day his oxygen and feeding tubes were removed. On day two he was sitting up in a chair, breathing unaided, feeling ‘normal’. On day 10 he was moved into a hospital flat, because staff ‘needed the bed for someone who was ill’.
John returned to Inverness within a month of his transplant surgery in 2016. In the intervening years he has married Ann and enjoyed watching his and Ann’s kids growing up.
He has also attended the Transplant Games and made friends with other organ transplant recipients, and he has recently met his donor’s family.
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John explains: “I wrote to my donor family eight years ago, expressing my sympathy for their loss, and thanking them for their generous gift to me, but I didn’t have direct contact with them till last November, when my donor’s dad called out of the blue.
“We exchanged photographs, which immediately helped me understand why Richard’s lungs were too big for me – he was a huge, strapping lad who went to the gym three times a week.
“Richard had talked to his dad about organ donation a couple of years earlier, so it was an easy decision for him to make to say yes, knowing it was what his son had wanted.”
John and Ann travelled to see Richard’s parents in April.
“Richard’s mum didn’t say anything to start with,” he said. “She just gave me a hug that out-hugged any hug I’d ever had before.
“We spent five or six hours together. I told them about my transplant journey, and they shared stories about Richard and his brothers and sisters. I can’t tell you how much it meant to all of us.
“Richard’s parents said it is so nice to see that Ann and I were living my bonus years to the full.”
If John could say anything to people who are unsure whether organ donation is for them, what would it be?
“That’s easy. Make a decision, register that decision – yes, or no – with the organ donor register, then tell your family what you have decided. If you are in that situation where you could become a donor, your family will be in shock and grief and trauma. This is one thing you can do for them, so they don’t have to worry about it.
“And if you do decide you want to donate your organs, I am living proof of the impact. The ripple effect is enormous, there’s me, Ann, our children and our wider friends. So many people who are grateful to Richard and his family. His organs gave new life to four people, including an eight-year-old boy. That’s huge.”
Organ Donation in Scotland brings hope out of tragedy. Find out more about organ donation here and register your wishes online. Then talk to your family about your wishes. Although Scotland legally has an opt-out system, your family’s views will always take precedence, so it’s important they understand your wishes.
DID YOU KNOW?
One body can save many lives. Organs like your heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small bowel can be donated, plus tissue like heart valves, skin, parts of your eyes and tendons. You can opt to donate all or any organs and tissue.
