BY FRED LAWRENCE

The Hants Journal

NovaNewsNow.com

One Hants County woman is waiting for the gift of life, literally, through a double-lung transplant to be performed at the Toronto General Hospital.

Sandra Winter was first diagnosed 10 years ago with Lymphangioleimyomatosis, a rare disease that invades and destroys lung tissue, leading eventually to lung failure. Although the province of Nova Scotia covered the initial $300,000 cost of the lifesaving operation, Winter had to come up with the money to go to Toronto, secure an apartment near the hospital and live there before, during and after the operation.

The first surgery was successful, but as Winter said, “my twins (as she calls her new lungs) are dying and I need a new set.”

More than a year ago now, Winter met with the transplant team of doctors to talk about the possibility of another operation. Initially, the surgical team told Winter that her age and the fact she would be a second transplant patient did not make the possibility look promising.

Since then, studies indicated that some second transplant patients had as good a chance of recovery as first-time patients if the conditions were right. Winter fell into a more favorable category and is currently waiting for the call to her apartment to tell her to pack for the hospital.

“Currently, I’m attending the hospital a minimum of three days a week to do a two-hour physio program to keep up the strength and muscle tone I do have left, as it is important in the recoup stage,” she said in a phone interview.

Winter said a recent ‘call’ to go for surgery turned out to be a problem with the phone lines. “I had a false alarm a few nights ago. My beeper went off late at night. In the end it was an electrical storm that set off the beeper, not a waiting lung. It was hard on the nerves, but good to have the practice. You’ll be darn sure I’ll be ready the next time it goes off.”



National organization needed

Winter said she believes equality of health care means not only that it exists, but that Canadians can access it. “I'm sure somebody with more time, money and savvy than me could work the legal system to bring this about as a fundamental right, but sick people are busy people.

“At a national level, now that Toronto has become the centre of lung transplantation, acting as a collector for all the provinces, a national organization (think Canadian Cancer Society, as an example) could be established to provide accommodation; buy a few apartments that could be provided to patients free of charge or for a nominal cleaning maintenance fee,” Winter said.

“The housing expense is the largest of all the budget items so this alone would be a terrific help. Of course, I think our drug plan should be rejigged so that Medicare steps in before 65 if the circumstances meet some extraordinary measure, which lungs surely do.”



Massive fundraising effort

No question money is a key issue. The massive effort to raise the necessary $75,000 is well on track, Winter said. “To-date we have raised over $46,000, and that’s just amazing. Although there are many hands contributing to this, really it is Adriana Afford, owner of Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, who has orchestrated everything. Without her, nothing would have amounted to much.”

Afford said the entire art community in the province is rallying around Winter, who was the former manager of Art Gallery Nova Scotia. “The art community in this province is a very close-knit group and we all want Sandra to get well.”

Afford said fundraisers have been ongoing since spring in the hope of reaching the goal. “Sandra was told she could be operated on before fall, and now they said the New Year, but we remain hopeful it will not be too much longer for her to wait.”

She said fundraising has taken on many faces since it began. Currently, the latest items up for auction on a website to support Sandra include ‘Artful Bags’. These organic canvas bags have been painted by noted artists and are for sale through silent online auction. Go to sandrassecondwind.blogspot.com and follow links to auction.

The bags are filled with gift certificates from many local businesses and will have other useful items for everyone, Afford said. One bag will hold a large prize, such as a trip for two.

Friends and family visit

Afford said one advantage for Winter is she’s native to Niagara Falls and has friends and family who visit regularly. “She knows the area, and Toronto, so it’s not being somewhere that you’re totally unfamiliar and everything like that is a bonus for her. But it’s not the same as being home at the farm in Cheverie; we want her back here and to get going on what she wants to do, not only for herself, but she has big plans for others,” Afford said.

One well-known Canadian artist created an impromptu painting for the auction site. A sketch by Robert Bateman, arguably Canada’s best landscape painter, was done in the back of his car en route recently.

“While vacationing with his grandchildren, Robert (Bateman) borrowed a sketch pad from his granddaughter Lilly so he could do the drawing for me as he forgot about it and was on his way to the airport,” Winter said.

For fans of Bateman, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get a work by a Canadian icon, and to help Sandra Winter in her fight for life. “I think people will really bid on this once they know what it was and where it was located,” she said.

Watch The Journal for updates on Winter and her progress as it unfolds. Readers who want to help should log on to the website. For more information, contact the N.S. Lung Association at (902) 425-9456.