Life Connection of Ohio volunteer celebrates 17-year double-lung transplant anniversary
TONYA GOMEZ could not laugh without getting a coughing spell. She had to endure daily aerosol and postural drainage treatments to help loosen lung secretion. She could not eat without taking enzymes before every meal. Normal, everyday activities became impossible because of her exhaustion.
Doctors took one look at Tonya and said she was a very sick little girl. Nine-month-old Tonya was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
Tonya’s cystic fibrosis caused her to be a shy kid who knew she was “different.” She hardly ever smiled because her medication made her teeth discolored and she did not want other kids to make fun of her. “I was afraid for people to know what was wrong with me for fear that they would treat me differently,” Tonya said. “I was sick and no one else was. They were doing all these things, and I couldn’t.”
But Tonya was determined to live her life. She graduated from Bellevue High School and then from The Ohio State University, earning a degree in human ecology with a concentration in dietetics. She worked as a clinical nutrition manager at the Fulton County Health Center. She fell in love with her husband, Mario, and they had a baby, Eric, in 2001. (They named their son Eric after Tonya’s brother, who passed away from cystic fibrosis.)
Getting through the workday was a struggle. Some mornings, Tonya physically could not get out of bed. If she would muster the strength to get to work, she fought her body’s urge to fall asleep. She knew it was bad, but she “didn’t want to come to terms with it,” Tonya said.
Tonya had frequent doctor’s appointments, and after one of her routine visits in September 2003, the doctor made her call her boss and say she could not return to work because she was too sick. On December 18, 2003, she was put on the waiting list for a double-lung transplant.
Tonya could not imagine two more years of wearing oxygen 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of fighting her exhaustion to stay awake in church. Of working up the energy to take a shower and battling the urge to sleep afterward. Of not being active with her two-year-old son. Of reading countless stories online about people who died waiting for transplants. Of not being able to sleep at night because she was afraid she would not wake up in the morning. Of trying to live on 19% lung function.
It was a normal Tuesday morning. Patient little Eric sat in bed with Tonya playing and flipping through books until she had the energy to start her day. Around 10 a.m., Tonya was making eggs for Eric, and the phone rang. “The call” came five months and one week after doctors told Tonya she would have to wait at least two years for her transplant.
It was time. Nervous and excited, Tonya and her family drove to the Cleveland Clinic. On May 25, 2004, Tonya received a life-saving double-lung transplant. “I don’t think I realized how sick I really was until I took my first breath after my transplant. It was an amazing feeling to be able to breathe,” Tonya said.
Tonya returned home with energy she had never experienced in her 31 years. She could play with her son without fear that he would take off running and she would not be able to catch him. She cooked because she wanted to, not because she had to. She held her breath much longer than the two measly seconds she could before her transplant. And she laughed at the air compressor—without coughing—as she blew up a whole inflatable pool by herself.
One year and two months after her transplant, Tonya’s donor family drove from Wisconsin to Tiffin, Ohio, to meet her. Her donor was a 10-year-old boy named Adam. Seeing Adam’s parents, Steve and Lori, for the first time was something Tonya will never forget. “It was such a good, emotional meeting,” Tonya said. “Eric was three, and Steve took to him immediately. He was playing with him and they went swimming together. I think it was a little bit of healing because they saw that receiving Adam’s lungs meant I could raise my own child.”
Since then, Tonya has attended many gatherings with her donor family, including Steve and Lori’s daughter, April’s, wedding. There, April looked at Tonya and then said to her mom, “Adam really is here.”
Tonya is grateful for her little hero, Adam. “I’m honoring Adam by taking care of the lungs I’ve been given. I received this gift, and I feel compelled to share it with everybody,” Tonya said. “We have a saying—‘Live like your donor is watching.’”
And she does. Every single day.
