Two transplants later, Fandal still gives back | St. Tammany community news

To look at Karen Fandal, you likely wouldn’t believe that she is 80 years old or that she is a heart transplant recipient. Karen has lived for 24 years with her donor heart.
At 56 years old, she was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle has thickened so much it becomes increasingly difficult for the heart to pump. The diagnosis was made by Karen’s primary doctor in Slidell, who referred her to doctors at Ochsner’s main campus in Jefferson Parish. Further tests revealed that without a heart transplant, she would only have six months to live.
When told that her heart was failing, Fandal said she was not taken aback.
“My father and two of my brothers died of the same thing, but they were not sick enough (and therefore) did not meet the criteria for a heart transplant,” she said. “I just figured I had inherited my mom’s constitution and my dad’s bad heart.”
Prior to the diagnosis, Fandal was living her usual life as a room mother, church volunteer, and enjoying social activities, but there were things she could not do, such as climb steps or ramps. That was all about to change.
The Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency is a nonprofit organization that recovers organs and tissue for transplant in Louisiana. Its mission is saving lives and improving medical care through organ and tissue donation. Medical institutions count on the Louisiana Donor Registry that is maintained by the organ agency to find matches for their patients in need of donor organs or tissue.
The agency found a match for Fandal in Kimberly Boyle, a 31-year-old woman from Henderson who lost her life exiting the interstate in an accident that involved defective tires. At some time in her recent past, Boyle had indicated on her Louisiana driver’s license that she wished to be an organ donor. Because of this, the agency was able to respond to Ochsner’s request for a heart that matched Fandal’s needs.
A year after Fandal’s transplant, Rita Boyd, the donor’s mother, contacted Fandal, seeking permission to talk.
Fandal felt hesitant at first because she knew that sometimes, donor families can be disappointed when learning about the recipient of their loved one’s vital organ. Unexpected reactions can surface. “It’s such an emotional and difficult process,” Fandal said.
By the time of the two talked, Fandal was recovered and experiencing the joy of walking to her seat at Saints games. After introductory phone calls and text messages, the two families met in person for lunch. Fandal brought to the donor’s parents a gift that is usually for babies, but she had personalized and re-purposed it for them. It was a small toy lamb with a heartbeat recorder. Fandal recorded Boyle’s heartbeat onto the recorder and placed it inside the toy. The sound of their daughter’s heartbeat will always be nearby.
Fandal cannot say enough about the support and compassion the organ agency provides to organ donors and recipients. Her feelings of gratitude for her second chance at life led her to train to speak to groups about organ donation. “People need to know about the possibility of survival and the need for donors. If Kim had not made the unselfish decision to designate herself as an organ donor, I might not have had the chance to see my daughter get married or to know my two grandchildren,” Fandal said.
Seven years ago (that’s 17 years after the heart transplant), Fandal had a kidney transplant. While anti-rejection drugs are commonly toxic to the kidneys, the benefits outweigh the risk to the kidneys, and that’s what Fandal experienced. Seven years after the kidney transplant, she is back to her usual activities.
So, what’s Fandal up to these days? She has been a volunteer with the organ agency for 20 years and busies herself playing bunco and cards with friends. She is the second vice president of the East St. Tammany Republican Women and president of a Grandparents group.
Lana Stevens, agency community educator and volunteer specialist, said she feels that the stories of recipients such as Karen Fandal and her post-transplant accomplishments are truly inspiring and “the way she continues to honor her donor heroes by living life to the fullest is why we do what we do.”
For more information about the organization, go to www.lopa.org.
link