Loss points to organ donor need

MILL CREEK — Four miles into the Seattle Marathon, Terri Nolan received a phone call that her sister was in the intensive care unit at the University of Washington Medical Center.

Tammi Shanks, who’d been next in line on the LifeCenter Northwest organ registry for a lung transplant for about a week, now required a ventilator to breathe.

Otherwise, the 46-year-old Edmonds woman was reportedly in good condition.

Nolan got off the phone on that Sunday in November, expecting an update within an hour.

It came at mile eight as Nolan and her long-time running partner, Diane Kennedy, were passing through the I-90 tunnel. Shanks was improving, according to a nurse in the ICU.

At mile 14, Nolan and Kennedy chanted as they left Seward Park, “We’re coming home, sister.”

The phone rang a second later.

Shanks, days — maybe hours — away from a lifesaving organ transplant, died, leaving her family and hundreds of friends in a state of shock.

Shanks was diagnosed seven years earlier with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a rare autoimmune disorder with a life expectancy of one to four years without a complete lung transplant. Though she was virtually symptom free for a little more than three years, the disease eventually forced Shanks to give up her nursing job at Northwest Hospital. In the final months, it even robbed her of the ability to cry.

“Our aunt died and at the funeral Tammi told me, ‘I can’t cry and breathe at the same time,” Nolan said.

There was never any question that Shank’s illness was life threatening; everyone knew the risks associated with the transplant surgery and recovery. But no one ever imagined that Shanks would die waiting.

“An hour earlier, a nurse at the hospital was telling my family that Tammi had improved since she’d been hooked up to the ventilator,” Nolan said. “They were all excited to hear how she was doing and then the doctor told them she didn’t make it.”

When she heard the news, Nolan screamed. She stood there with Kennedy on Lake Washington Boulevard, sobbing.

Both women looked at their green wristbands that read “Donate Life,” and “Tammi Shanks” separated by a nurse’s shield and a shamrock that celebrated Shanks’ Irish heritage.

“Terri picked me up that morning to drive to the start line of the marathon and handed me the bracelet as I got in the car,” Kennedy said, reaching for Nolan’s hand.

The Mill Creek neighbors ran their first marathon two years ago, adopting the mantra, “We run because we can and for those who can’t.”

The race wasn’t meant to be a tribute to Nolan’s sister, but the bracelets seemed an appropriate running accessory based on Shanks’ move to the top of the transplant registry.

Nolan and Kennedy staggered along the race course, hugging and crying, for what seemed like the longest 15 minutes of their lives.

“We needed to process what just happened,” Kennedy said. “Runners passed us by the dozens with grave looks of concern and offers to help these two sweaty, stinky, distraught women.”

About two miles past the half-way marker — about to give up and head for the hospital — it occurred to them that Tammi would want them to finish the race.

“Tammi was very proud of Terri’s running and marathoning,” Kennedy said. “To Tammi, healthy lungs were a gift and they should be treasured by using them … She never asked why this disease happened to her and she never felt sorry for herself; she would have been so mad if we gave up in the middle.”

What was it like for Shanks’ loved ones waiting for their friend, mother, sister, daughter and wife to receive an organ transplant?

Nolan searched for words to describe that feeling.

“You’re not praying for someone to die, but, at the same time, you know that’s what has to happen in order for your loved one to get this gift of life,” Nolan said. “So I guess I feel some relief that I don’t have to struggle anymore with those prayers, but I also feel frustrated … Tammi was next in line for a week, and in all that how many organs were simply not available because people never registered as organ donors.”

There are close to 100,000 people in the United States waiting for an organ transplant; 18 of them die every day still waiting; and 1,900 of those waiting live in the Northwest, according to figures from Donate Life Northwest, a regional nonprofit group dedicated to increasing awareness about organ donation.

When Nolan and Kennedy crossed the finish line that Sunday afternoon, they each placed a hand on their heart for Shanks. Nolan remembers little of the race after mile 14. She was in a hurry to get to the hospital and say her goodbyes before a transplant team harvested her sisters’ corneas — the only viable organs Shanks had left to donate.

“It’s not something you think about — organ donation — until your life or the life of someone you love depends on a transplant,” Nolan said. “People never talk about it; it’s like asking someone, ‘Who are you voting for?’ So how do we educate people about the importance of being an organ donor?

“My sister died waiting,” Nolan said. “I don’t want anyone else to go through what my family is going through.”

How to become an organ donor

Learn more about organ donation at the following Web sites:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: www.organdonor.gov

Donate Life Northwest: www.donatelifenw.org/facts

United Network for Organ Sharing: www.unos.org/data

Bone marrow and chord blood donation: bloodcell.transplant.hrsa.gov

There are several ways to register as an organ donor in Washington:

On the Web: visit www.donatelifetoday.com

At the Department of Licensing: Agree to organ donation when you renew your drivers license

Call Donate Life Northwest: 1-877-275-5269

Waiting list for transplants