Let me start this off with a huge thank you to the students, faculty and staff at St. Thomas. My first thank you is to Alison Belyea who got the ball rolling on fundraising for me and exposure for Cystic Fibrosis and Organ Donation. Thank you Derek Simon for your kind words to the newspaper and your hard work. Thank you to Sylvia Hale and Corinne Hersey for your efforts in fundraising. Thank you to Danielle Connell, Susan Sears, Becky Soffee, Margie Reed, Jocelyne Legresley, Ferne Stewart, Linda Arseneau, Rebecca Phillips, Barbara Haines, Shauna Foote, Carrie Montieth Levesque, Marina Nedashkivska , Toni Stewart, Sarah Calhoun, Pauline McIntyre, and Christina Cail, for your work with the Toonies for Heather Fundraiser. Finally, thank you to the students of St. Thomas, who donated their much needed coffee money to me and my journey.
What a journey it has been. As many of you know by now I have Cystic Fibrosis. It’s a genetic disease that I was born with and have battled all my life. When I was a baby my parents were told I wouldn’t live to be six and in June of this year I’ll turn 26. I have a lot of people to thank for that, starting with my parents who adopted me, cared for me and never once told me I couldn’t do something “because you’re sick.” My mentality (thanks to them) has always been that I can do anything I set my mind to, it just may take me longer than other people. That way of thinking probably saved my life this year. I was in and out of two ICU’s and told multiple times I might need to be put on a respirator to survive until donor lungs were found – but I fought my way out of the critical care units a few times and held on to the hope that my new lungs would come through in time.
Some may not consider me a lucky person due to my health problems but I am definitely not one of them. I see myself as one of the luckiest people ever. I have a big supportive family who have been with me every step, I have an incredible boyfriend who has been my rock through this roller coaster ride and who never failed to be positive and encouraging, I have amazing friends who helped with fundraising and sent constant messages and cards and I have a school and community who donated their time and money to help me get through all this. I feel like I could write a book of just thank you’s to people and it would probably take the rest of my life.
This experience has been anything but easy. There was a time when we thought I might not make it and the doctors confirmed that after my surgery, had I not received the new lungs, I would have had about two weeks left to live. Thanks to luck and a lot of prayers from a lot of people, I did get the new lungs. I cannot describe what it’s like to take a deep breath, laugh without coughing or be able to walk around without gasping for air. It’s incredible and it is a gift that this university played a part in giving me. I’ll never be able to repay the kindness that has been shown to me and my family but I will also never forget it or stop being grateful for it. I have always loved my school and I look forward to returning to it and finishing the degree I started in 2004. My hopes are to share what I’ve been through with others so that there is increased awareness about Cystic Fibrosis and Organ Donation. I also hope to help future transplant patients with their own long journeys, because nobody can, or should have to, go through something like this alone. I have felt hopeful, scared, happy, worried and miserable at times but I never felt alone. Thank you to everyone at St. Thomas who played a role in that.
Heather MacInnis
