HISTORY THROUGH OUR EYES

Oct. 21, 1983: Mother needs transplant

On Oct. 21, 1983, Montreal Gazette readers were introduced to 26-year-old Diane Hébert. We said the “vivacious single mother” would soon die from a rare disease that was plugging up the arteries around her heart unless she had a heart-and-lung transplant, something no other Quebecer had yet received. George Bird’s photo of Hébert with her three-year-old daughter Isabelle appeared on Page 1.

Hébert had just been accepted by the Stanford University Medical Center as a transplant candidate, and was about to move to California to await a donor. While Quebec health insurance would pay part of the costs, another $40,000 to $50,000 would be needed to cover the difference as well as living expenses while she waited, we said, letting readers know that a fund had been set up to collect donations.

Quebecers were moved by her plight and inspired by her courage. Donations poured in, and many followed her story as she waited for the transplant.

As it turned out, Hébert’s petite stature complicated finding a suitable donor. After 23 months, she was told there was no more hope and that she should return home to live out what time remained, we later reported.

However on Nov. 26, 1985, Hébert received the transplant, in Toronto. There were complications. The donated heart was too big for her chest, she had to return to the operating room four times, and in the crucial first week, her donated heart stopped three times, we later wrote.

The operation allowed Hébert to lead an active life for almost 23 years, during which she dedicated herself to helping others who required transplants.

She died in 2008, at age 51, as the result of complications from a lung infection.