Heart to heart
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians waiting for a heart transplant in Ottawa
Approximately 2,500 kilometres away from Gander is an unlikely place for a group of strangers to meet and connect immediately to become a second family. With similar journeys providing the backdrop, the coming together became an inevitable weekly event. This is the experience of Gander couple, Howard Freake and Olive Johnson, as Freake faced heart failure while hoping that a transplant would give him a future.
It was with trepidation, Freake and Johnson moved away from their support system. The Ottawa Heart Institute seemed to be the logical place for the Gander couple. They were told to pack for the long haul.
“There is no crystal ball,” the cardiologist said. “You need a heart but we don’t know when it will come.”
Moving closer to a heart transplant centre was a formidable decision but necessary because as the Freake’s doctor said, “you’re in the end stages of heart failure, Howard, and your only hope is a heart transplant.”
Isolation enveloped Freake and Johnson initially.
“We felt so lonely,” they both commented. “It was a difficult adjustment.” Plucked from their life in Gander waiting anxiously for what the future may mean, raw emotions seem to perpetually flow: frustration, sadness, and fear. Hope came and went like the seasons as they waited. Freake and Johnson tried to make the best of this situation. They sought out anything familiar. In time, that familiarity was heard in recognizable voices from strangers: accents in the hospital elevators and hallways. Desperate to connect with others “from home” they stopped and chatted. Fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians on similar journeys, waiting for hearts.
“Some things come your way when they are most needed,” Johnson commented. “This is how we felt about meeting our new friends from home—our heart family.” According to Freake and Johnson, the friendships were immediate and easy. Sporadic at first, the network grew and Freake and Johnson built a base of friends from Newfoundland and Labrador, all hoping for a transplant, who became like family.
Place to gather
In the last year, on Sunday evenings, Tim Hortons at the hospital became the place of gathering. Freake and Johnson came to call it their “Heart to Heart“meetings and the open invitation caught on.
“Come when you can; its every Sunday night,” Johnson said to everyone she met from Newfoundland and Labrador. They all shared news from home, shared results about their heart journeys, shared tips and shared stories over a cup of Tims.
“We placed our provincial flag in the centre of a few pushed-together tables, along with a jar for donations to collectively send fruit baskets as a heart family to fellow heart patients when they got the call. It was a special gesture to those with new hearts to say we are all with you,” Johnson recounted.
“It helped more than anyone could imagine,” recalls Sonny Edmunds from Happy Valley – Goose Bay as his eyes filled with emotion. “I don’t know what I would have done without the support of our Sunday evenings.”
Edmunds’ son, Donald went through critical hours and hours of surgery without much hope for survival. “Our ‘heart’ family helped me through those long moments. I am thankful for them. It’s hard to believe we only met them since we came here and yet they are so close, always checking in on us.“said Edmunds senior. Edmunds junior is now known as the miracle having pulled through seemingly insurmountable odds.
This Heart to Heart group celebrated or consoled continually. Being on a transplant list does not mean eventually getting a successful transplant. “We shared moments of tremendous sorrow when some of our heart family did not make it through,” Johnson said. “We knew if someone did make it, it was cause for celebration. We shared excitement and hope as we cheered others on when the call came for them. We all sought the same result—to get a heart that would restore health and optimism for the future. I sometimes feared that I would go home to Gander alone if a heart didn’t get here in time for Howard. Our emotions were on a roller coaster all the time.”
“The thought would sit there,” Freake said. “When? Will the heart get here in time? There was constantly an edge on the emotions.”
On Sunday, July 9 it had been 1,623 days since leaving home for Freake and Johnson. It seems fitting that they were sitting for their weekly “Heart to Heart” in Tim Hortons as the call from the Heart Institute came. “You must come, we have a heart for you,” said a calm voice on the other end of the line.
Tims was in the hospital, so Freake and Johnson, overcome with emotion, trekked down the hall, in shock about what this meant.
“I went to Tims for a tea and came home with a heart,” Freake mused. “Unbelievable!” After waiting 41/2 years, the time had come! It was a poignant moment.
“We hugged and cried!” Johnson recalled emotionally. “A seared memory for all time. It was Heart to Heart time at Tims when the call came! How sweet it is!”
With one month post surgery completed, confidence is growing that the heart will restore Freake’s health. “There are always anticipated bumps in the road,” the nursing co-ordinator told them, when Freake ended up back in emergency with atrial fibulation. “It’s part of the journey and why you need to stay close to the Heart Institute for the first three months after surgery.”
This success story would not be possible without the generous act of the donor family who made a decision to give the gift of life at their most tragic moment.
“We will be thankful forever,” both Freake and Johnson chimed in. “Howard is at this place of regaining health because of the donor family,” said Johnson. “They are very important anonymous members of our heart to heart family.”