Richmond County Daily Journal
When faced with the possibility that he might have to have a heart transplant, a Richmond County man said he couldn’t morally accept another person’s organs if he wasn’t willing to donate his own.
Jay Hudson, 62, is hopefully on his way to becoming a heart transplant recipient. He is spending the week at Duke with his wife of 37 years, Camilla, undergoing scores of tests and counseling.
Hudson was diagnosed with heart failure in 1994. He became disabled and was unable to work, but began to adjust and soon worked his way up to walking several miles a day.
But last spring, he began experiencing chest pains, but wasn’t sure it had anything to do with his heart, so he ignored it.
On June 15, he had a massive heart attack.
“I’d walked five miles that day and felt good,” Hudson said. “I had a big meal that night, loaded with salt, and woke up around 1:30 a.m. with a severe case of indigestion. I had no pain in my arm, just chest pain. I woke up my wife and told her it might be a heart attack and she called 911.”
Hudson said Richmond County EMTs arrived at his home between Ellerbe and Rockingham in about six minutes and they did an EKG when they arrived and began to transport him to Richmond Memorial Hospital. But on the way there, by the time they’d reached the flea market, the EKG wasn’t looking good so they pulled over, gave him some nitroglycerine and drove him to Moore Regional.
“I was unconscious the last part of the trip,” Hudson recalled. “But I did wake up in the ER and they said the cardiologist would be in, in a minute.”
Hudson woke up a couple of days later and found out he’d had a stent put in. The doctors had found a complete blockage in one artery and another artery was partially blocked.
“They found I’d had a childhood birth defect that caused a rapid heart beat,” Hudson said. “And after that they told me I’d have to have a bypass and on June 19 they did a complete bypass and found an artery that had never developed. They didn’t think I’d recover, but I did.”
But it wasn’t an easy recovery for Hudson.
On July 2, he woke up around 2 a.m. to get medication from his nurse, but as soon as she left the room Hudson felt a massive head rush and before he could push the call button for the nurse he went unconscious.
“I was hooked up to the heart monitor so the alarms went off and next thing I knew I had white lights over me and doctors slapping my cheeks and telling me to wake up,” Hudson said. “They didn’t tell me how long, but my heart had stopped and they had to shock me and put a defibrillator in me.”
After that procedure, Hudson developed double pneumonia.
He spent a total of 37 days in the hospital before being discharged to a local nursing home for two days. Hudson said he could only stand two days there and asked to go back home with Home Health.
“It was a long recovery,” Hudson said. “I couldn’t even write my name at first, but eventually I was able to walk a mile in September.”
Then in October, Hudson went into sudden heart failure.
He made it until November when he went into heart failure again and was put back on a ventilator.
The week of Thanksgiving Hudson was sent back to Moore Regional.
“That’s when the doctor said I needed to think about a transplant,” Hudson said. “He said it would involve a lot and be traumatic.”
Back at home, Hudson went into a sudden heart failure again in December, and he said it was the worst one he’d ever had.
“My lungs filled with fluid and I went unconscious before EMS got there, but they got there in time and got me to Richmond Memorial where they put me on a ventilator and took me back to Moore Regional. Then they transferred me to Duke.”
Once at Duke, Hudson underwent CAT scans and they put in two heart catheters and tried to find the trigger for these sudden episodes, but they couldn’t pinpoint it.
While at Duke doctor’s changed Hudson’s diet, limiting him to 1,800 calories a day, 2,000 mg of salt and ordering him to only sip beverages rather than gulping.
Hudson was sent home on New Year’s Day after making appointments to see surgeons and scheduling tests.
He’s been at Duke for a week now undergoing blood tests, ultrasounds, fitness tests, X-rays and extensive counseling and conferences with heart surgeons.
Hudson said the day he found out he’d need a transplant he and his wife had a long discussion about it.
“I told her I can’t accept a transplant if I’m not a donor, I just can’t morally do it,” he said.
Hudson said he thought about it for a few weeks, then saw that FirstHealth Richmond Memorial was having the organ donation program on Jan. 26.
He talked to his sister about becoming a donor and she just happened to be neighbors with one of the event’s speakers, Katie Tyson, who received a heart transplant about 20 years ago.
“That solidified it for me, and so I went to the meeting and Katie came and talked with me and said what I was going through right now was probably the worst part of it because you’re living on eggshells just waiting for the next event,” Hudson said. “I made up my mind up right then, I had to become a donor. I’m 62 and don’t know what would be suitable for anyone, but the eye donation is possible, or tissue. So even at my age and with heart failure, I do have a few parts that work. And I decided to be a donor and I felt so much better. My wife and I had already decided we’d be cremated when we died and saw no sense in wasting our bodies. We just hope our children will spread our ashes in a memorial garden for us.”
“At the beginning I was just squeamish about the transplant,” Hudson said. “As if I imagined being awake while the doctor was cutting me open to take my organs, but I got over that. No matter what happens when I die, I hope I can help someone.”
Hudson said he signed up through the Carolina Donor Services to become an organ donor.
Hudson’s tests at Duke wrapped up on Friday and he’ll get to come back home.
He said Duke’s heart transplant team meets every Thursday to discuss potential transplant patients and if he’s chosen, he’ll be given a few hours notice and have to be back at Duke to get his new heart.
“It’s just a waiting game now,” He said. “If I do recover, I want to write a book about all of this because I’m sure other people have the same fears I’ve had.”
If you want to become an organ donor, you can visit www.donatelifenc.org, www.nceyebank.org, or, if you’d like to become a donor to someone who is also a donor, you can sign up at www.lifesharers.org.
n Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.
The LifeSharers method of organ donation is legal under federal law and under the laws of all 50 states. UNOS doesn't agree with the LifeSharers approach but they've said they won't interfere with it.
After the HHS expressed some concerns about LifeSharers, we changed our operating methods to address those concerns. Natalie Cole, the famous singer, received a kidney donation recently through directed donation. This is the same process used by LifeSharers members to offer their organs first to other members.
Mr. van Stavern calls the existing organ allocation system the fairest in the world. Almost 14,000 LifeSharers members disagree. Under the system van Stavern defends, about half of all organs are allocated to non-donors. Also, about half of the people on the transplant waiting list die before they get a transplant.
By giving people a chance to help themselves while helping others, LifeSharers is increasing the number of organ donors. If you'd like to donate your organs to other organ donors, and increase your chances of getting a transplant if you need one, please join LifeSharers at www.lifesharers.org.
Phil Van Stavern
Director of Communications
LifeShare Transplant Donor Services of Oklahoma
Over 50% of the people on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs every year.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage – give donated organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition. LifeSharers has over 13,500 members at this writing, including 403 members in North Carolina.
Please contact me - Dave Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers - if your readers would like to learn more about our innovative approach to increasing the number of organ donors. I can arrange interviews with some of our local members if you're interested. My email address is daveundis@lifesharers.org. My phone number is 615-351-8622.
There will be fundraising activities to help Jay and Camilla with expenses. At this time they are looking at needing $12,000 to get back and forth to Duke University, to stay at the hotel and to eat, as well as other needs. It has been a challenging time for Jay and Camilla. They haven't asked for anything, but there are friends who believe they are very deserving, very worthy, of assistance at this time.
My request is that anyone who has such a desire will make a monetary donation to help them with those expenses. A trust fund will be set up to receive donations. Your newspaper has the potential of helping the Hudsons and gain a strong readership as county residents follow their sojourn through the heart transplantation and recovery.
Thanks for putting the story online. Wonderful coverage! (Applaud the reporter, Eren Tataragasi). And it's now accessible to Jay's friends around the globe!
Cathy Brownfield
NE Ohio resident