Together at a difficult time

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Together at a difficult time

For transplant patients and families, a chance to reflect, hope and celebrate.

By DEIRDRE CONNER, The Times-Union

It was afternoon, and around ville, businesses sat dark, the streets quiet. The sky was subdued. Most Christmas presents had already been exchanged.

But for Teri Pung, the gift was yet to come. The promise of it was all around her at the Christmas Day dinner, where strangers relished their chance to see grandchildren sing Christmas carols or seized the opportunity to go scuba diving again. A new life, Hal MacKenzie Freeman called it. Few knew each other at the dinner Tuesday, but all shared a common bond: A life-saving organ transplant, either past or imminent. TRIO, or Transplant Recipients International Organization, of Northeast Florida puts on the dinner every year, offering a refuge for those in ville because of a transplant, and, for past transplant recipients, a moment to reflect and celebrate. Many of the patients and families who await organ transplantation in ville come from hundreds or even thousands of miles away, hanging on month after month here before and after the surgery, said Steve Binder, TRIO's membership director. "A lot of these people are away from their families at Christmas," he said. Among them is Pung, waiting as her husband was prepared for possible surgery that evening at St. Luke's Hospital. This Christmas morning brought not holiday traditions, but news of a potential match, tidings delivered by the Mayo Clinic staff she has come to trust with everything. For many transplant recipients, the narrative of Christmas giving and receiving often takes on a more profound meaning. Freeman, an eye surgeon and Harvard professor, had a liver transplant at Mayo and is hoping to write a guide for other patients. "In some way I want to repay for the gift of a new life," he said. For families awaiting a transplant, the holidays can intensify an experience already fraught with emotion. The stress - and gratitude - can be overwhelming. Binder, who volunteers locally with transplant patients and is one himself, said there are plenty of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day surgeries. An organ waits for no one. "It's quite a present," Binder said. "It's not just the one person - the whole family is maintained. There are so many people touched by this." As for Pung, "I'm very hopeful," she said. But after a false alarm last week and 2? months of waiting for good news, she's grounded in reality, steeling herself for the possible dangers and complications. A new liver could be both Christmas and birthday present for her husband, who was born Dec. 26. Whatever the day, the gift, if it comes, won't soon be forgotten. deirdre.conner@... , (904) 359-4504

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/122607/met_229110610.shtml