The University of Alberta Hospital serves as the provincial hub for heart, liver, lung, small bowel and islet transplants. And this week, Alberta Health Services celebrates 25 years of heart and lung transplantation in the province.
It was ten years ago when Amie Gray-Carroll was given only six months to a year to live due to cystic fibrosis.
The woman was told her chance of survival would depend on a lung transplant, but due to her size, she had to wait until smaller lungs were available.
The woman eventually underwent a rare living lobar lung transplant at the University of Alberta Hospital. At that time, her surgery was the first of its kind to be performed in Alberta.
The lobes were donated by her father, and a family friend.
"When we accept patients, their life expectancy without a transplant is six to 12 months. After transplants, patients can live 15 or more years longer," said Dr. Jeff Burton, medical co-director of the Heart Transplant Program with the University of Alberta Hospital and Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute.
Gray-Carroll says a decade later, she feels great and is living life to the fullest.
"I never thought that I would be here today, feeling so healthy," she said.
She says she still has to take medication and watch her diet, but is able to travel freely, something she could not do before because of her breathing issues.
"You can look at me and you would never know that I was sick or had a lung transplant…like a lot of people have to double look and ‘you've had a lung transplant?'" she said.
According to Burton, the need for organ donation remains strong.
"We depend on people donating their organs and tissues which is why it's important to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation."
In 2010, transplant services performed 33 heart transplants, 40 lung transplants and one double heart-lung transplant.
