I had the trip of a lifetime. And I thank my donor with every single breath that I take Charity worker living life to full after lung op
Jenny Morrison As Lisa Hertwig enjoyed the last moments of a dream holiday to Australia, she wrote a poignant message in the sand to thank the stranger who saved her life.
Two years ago, Lisa – who suffers from cystic fibrosis – received the lungs of a young woman who died in her early 30s.
The 27-year- old jet-skied, rode a camel, sand surfed and even fed a kangaroo in Oz. As she lives her new life to the ful l, she thinks of her donor every day.
Lisa, of Alloa, said: “Two years ago, my lungs were so damaged and I was so ill that I know I didn’t have long to live.
“But I’ve just been on a holiday that I never imagined I would ever be well enough to go on, doing amazing things I never dreamed I would be able to do.
“I feel so lucky and appreciative of this life I am well enough to live now and so grateful to my donor and to her family who gave their permission for her organs to be donated at such a sad time in their lives.
“I really believe where I go, she goes too. I’m determined to live life to the fullest – for both of us.”
Lisa was 23 when she was told the cystic fibrosis she had battled all her life had caused so much damage to her lungs that she wouldn’t be able to survive without a double lung transplant.
Over the next three-and-ahal f years, Lisa’s health continued to decline as she waited on the transplant list for donor lungs that matched her needs to become available.
On November 4, 2016, she received a cal l f rom her transplant coordinator telling her to head st raight to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital for the life- saving operation the following day.
Lisa said: “As a donor recipient, you don’t get a lot of information about the person whose organs have been donated.
“I don’t know her name, where she was from or how she died but I know she was a woman in her early 30s.
“Whatever happened, I know her family gave their permission for her organs to be donated. During their time of terrible grief, they were able to process the difference her organs could make to the lives of others. At the start of the year, I wrote a letter to thet family of my donor trying to explain to them what their decisiondec to allow organ donation hasha meant to me. “I toldt them about some of the thingsthing I’ve been able to do – like gettingtti my first job, which means being able to provide for myself. “I’ve become an auntie to my best
friend’sfrie little girl, a baby we didn’tdid know if I would get the chancecha to even meet as my friendfrie was pregnant as I waited for a transplant. “I’veI taken a beginner’s course in SpanishSp and I’ve started to learn sign language. “It’sIt my plan to try as many new things as possible. For so long, my life was on hold but now I wanwant to do everything.”
Lisa,Lisa who works for a charity as a carer, sayss a trip she and her mum LizzieL Young, 55, made to visit familyfaamily in Perth, Australia, was a dreamd come true.
She added: “I did so many amazinga things including riding ono a camel, taking a trip in a helicopter,h going on a jet ski and stoppings while dolphins came up to swim beside us.
“I visited the Pinnacles, which fans ofo Billy Connolly will remember as theth place where he danced naked.
“I saw a wild kangaroo, touched a koala and a wombat, visited lots of beaches, sand surfed and had the time of my life.
“There were so many times on the trip where I felt myself getting overcome with emotion because I just felt so grateful to be there.
“Everywhere I go, my donor will go too.”