A nearly six-month rollercoaster ordeal of testing, treatments, waiting, searching and praying — and a miraculous match — resulted in a heart transplant Sunday for former Bellaire Mayor Pro Tem Mandy Nathan.
Tricky antibodies had made the search a narrow one, but according to her husband, David, things happened fast this weekend for the 52-year-old civic leader, who had related her plight in a CaringBridge.com blog that has been both funny and heartwrenching.
This is his entry tonight, entitled “That’s Right You’re Not From Texas (But Texas Wants You Anyway),” in which he reported the transplant:
“Today it is I, David, and I am guest writing Mandy’s blog. To get the job, Mandy told me I had to quote a song and have a pithy story to tell, and I always do as she says.
“Listen: As many of you know, Mandy wasn’t born in Texas, but as we like to say, she got here from Maine as fast as she could. And like Lyle Lovett said in this post’s title, even you ain’t from around here, we’re glad to have you. And that is especially true for the newest Texan (foreshadowing alert).
“Last night, Mandy calls me at 11:30. She never has good news to deliver that late. Recently, her heart balloon had been moving out of place a bit, so I figured it had to be replaced—again—and surgery was imminent. I was thoroughly unprepared for when she said that they had found a heart for her.
“That’s right. I buried the lead.
“They found a heart.
“Here’s what we know about the donor:
• She is a “young woman” from another state (that heart is not from Texas, but if it’s from Louisiana or Arkansas or Oklahoma, we’re grateful).
• She’s shorter than Mandy.
• The antibodies matched. Yes, sports fans, it’s a match!
“This morning the cardiac team flew to an undisclosed location where the donor was on life support, verified that the heart was viable, and gave us the GO message.
“Ninety minutes later, Mandy was prepped and ready. Before she left, everyone from across the CICU came in for a “birthday” picture (see photo). And then she was off.
“The heart arrived by jet and then helicopter.
“So almost six months after she checked into Methodist…
“Exactly 151 days after being put on the Transplant List…
“Mandy got her change of heart.
“Less than 30 minutes later we left her home away from home on the 10th floor. All the bobbleheads, body creams, get well cards and gifts were packed up, and they began power cleaning the room for the next patient. They don’t mess around in the CICU.
“And now (6:15 p.m. CST), one of the surgeons just came down and said everything went well.
“What we know: ‘Her old heart was really bad.’ I don’t know if all the weekly ‘dara’ treatments would have ultimately made a difference, and thankfully, now it doesn’t matter. They found the unicorn heart. I always knew Mandy was one in a million—I just didn’t think the odds of finding a match were roughly the same.
”Tom Petty said that the waiting is the hardest part, but for transplant recipients, recovery is sometimes a long, long road. I don’t know when she’ll be coming home. I’ll let her tell you all about that.
”For now, thank you to everyone who has helped out, in ways big and small. They all added up.
”Thanksgiving definitely came early this year.”
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