Saved by the same donor – two women bonded by gift of life

JUST four years ago these two women had never met and had little in common except having only a few months left to live.

But thanks to the generosity of a grief-stricken family, they met and began to forge a unique bond that is set to last the rest of their lives.

Susie Wood and Gill Hollis are close friends because they owe their lives to the same organ donor. Wood, 30 received the heart and Hollis, 42, a lung from the same anonymous accident victim during life-saving operations that took place simultaneously at the same hospital.

Yesterday, they told their incredible story to Scotland on Sunday to help raise awareness of our campaign to change organ-donation laws to presumed consent.

And as Wood and Hollis prepare to mark the fourth anniversary of their transplants they reveal how thankful they are to the family whose personal tragedy offered them hope.

Hollis said: "We are very lucky in having a lot in common. We enjoy travelling and sports. But we also share a very special bond. We each have our separate identities but when we link up there is that bond there."

The first that Hollis, a financial writer from Edinburgh, knew of her illness was when her lung collapsed 20 years ago. She was later diagnosed with lymphangioleiomyomatosis, a slow-progressing disease, and over the years she grew gradually weaker as her lung deteriorated. Eventually she became so ill and breathless that she had to give up most normal activities and was put on the transplant list.

"I was deteriorating so quickly, it was very frightening for me and my family. I knew I had a 50% chance of dying on the lung waiting list," she said.

Wood, an occupational therapist from Guisborough in North Yorkshire, was born with a congenital heart defect but lived a fairly normal life until she collapsed at work in November 2003. After weeks in hospital it became clear her heart had failed and she needed a transplant. Although she was unconscious for much of the time in hospital, she remembers the fear of hearing the diagnosis confirmed.

"I spent most of my life on 70% oxygen but if you don't know any different that's how you live," she said. "We had always known there was a chance things might change at any time but you get on with your life. I had just got engaged when I fell ill.

"However, no matter how poorly you think you are, a transplant is not a conversation you ever think you are going to have. I was quite flabbergasted. I was too ill for other surgery. It was the only option. There is so much uncertainty because you don't know what it's going to entail." The two women were close to death and suffering severe distress before their transplants.

For Wood, the low point was being so weak she could not raise her hands to wash her hair in the shower. For Hollis it was waking frequently in the night struggling to breathe. She said: "Eating was difficult, sleeping was difficult and showering and dressing in the morning took hours. Being on the transplant list is also mental hell for patients and their families."

On the evening of February 10, 2004, both women were told that a donor had become available. They were both taken to the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, which performs lung transplants on Scottish patients and heart transplants for patients from the north of England.

Hollis had been on the waiting list for seven months and Wood had been waiting a fortnight. Both women went into the operating theatre knowing they had a one-in-seven chance of dying from the operation.

Wood said: "I was in the ambulance to the Freeman thinking: 'Is this my last journey?' My family were all really good and I didn't want to do the goodbye thing. We kept it very relaxed." Their operations took place overnight and both were lengthy and complicated procedures because their own organs were so damaged and delicate.

However, they both woke up the next morning, in neighbouring beds, feeling immediately better and hugely relieved.

Hollis said: "The next morning was a beautiful, bright, sunny day and I thought: 'I've woken up' – because not waking up was my biggest fear. We were in neighbouring beds, but we were kept in isolation cubicles because of the risk of infection. So our families spent a lot of time together and knew each other before we did."

The two were each told by staff that their new organs had come from the same donor and they met a week after the transplants during physiotherapy sessions and X-ray appointments.

Since leaving hospital, the two talk on the phone regularly and meet up when they can, and in 2005 Hollis was a guest at Wood's wedding.

Both are now in good health and living active lives. Hollis loves all the activities she couldn't even consider a few years ago, such as rollerblading, kayaking and cycling. Wood has completed a half-marathon.

However, as well as the joy of a new lease of life, they feel a debt of gratitude to their donor. Anonymity laws prevent them from ever knowing the donor's identity, but they have both written emotional letters of thanks to the family who lost a loved one the day they gained their second chance in life.

Hollis added:

"I've written and thanked them – it was the most difficult letter I've ever had to write – but probably the most important. I think about them a lot, and the brave decision they made at an unbelievably difficult time."

Both women also back Scotland on Sunday's campaign for an opt-out system of presumed consent. Hollis said: "The tragedy is of wasted organs where the wishes of the potential donor are not carried through."