Atlas Twp.- It is rare for someone close to death to get even one second chance at life. Gail Seeling has had two.
She owes her life to two strangers who lost their own lives, but in dying, gave a final, incredible gift? their organs. Seeling, 60, had two life-saving liver transplants as a result, the most recent in January.
‘If I hadn’t had the first, I never would have met my grandchildren,? she says. ‘I’ve been given life. Not too many people get a second chance when they’re that close.?
Now, she would be grateful for another 12 to 20 years to watch her four grandsons grow up.
Jennifer Tislerics, spokesperson for Gift of Life Michigan, says that as of Sept. 1, there are 3,181 Michigan patients waiting for an organ transplant? 2,585 are waiting for a kidney; 391 for a liver; 65 for a heart; 49 for a lung; 24 for a pancreas; 56 for a kidney and pancreas combination; nine for a kidney-liver combination; and two for a kidney-heart combination. Thousands more need cornea and other tissue transplants, defined as bone, skin and heart valves.
The Michigan Organ Donor Registry currently has 1,224,608 people who have signed up in the registry to have their organs donated in the event of their death. Still, last year, 181 Michigan patients died while waiting for a transplant. From January to June of this year, 103 patients died.
‘Unfortunately, there are not enough organs donated, because survivors don’t know what their relatives wanted,? said Tislerics. ‘Several people die each week because they don’t get a transplant in time.?
Seeling was blindsided by the news she would need a transplant. Always perfectly healthy, she began itching and bruising easily in 1993, while she was working for a pediatrician. He referred her to a gastroenterologist, who diagnosed her with primary biliary cirrhosis, a rare genetic liver disease (unrelated to alcohol consumption) that affects white women in their 40s. A little more than a year later, she was told she needed a liver transplant. In September 1995, she received her first liver.
Doctors told her prior to the surgery that the transplant eliminates the disease in 99 percent of people. However, one year later, she was diagnosed with it again. Still, Seeling was able to enjoy life with her husband, Jim, and be there for her own two children, Jim, Jr. and Katie, as well as welcome her grandchildren? Trevor, 8, Drew, 6, Colin, 5, and Tanner, 3.
Two years ago, however, she was getting progressively weaker, sicker and thinner. On January 10, the University of Michigan Medical Center called and she received her second liver that day, although she was in such a weakened state she doesn’t remember anything that happened from right before until right around Easter, when her family had dinner with her at the U-M cafeteria. She was released from the hospital April 19.
‘I am thrilled to be here,? she says. ‘Trevor made first communion on May 6 and in the church I cried like a baby. I was so happy to be there. Everyday I see those kids, I think, ‘I’m going to be there for them because they love their grandma.??
Gail and Jim Seeling celebrated their 40th anniversary in June. Next month, they will travel to Maine.
She is appreciative of the gift she has been given? life.
‘I would dearly love to thank both families,? says Seeling, who notes that if the donor families ever contact Gift of Life, the organization will give them a thank you letter that Jim Seeling wrote from their family.
Seeling’s daughter, Katie Wischman, said, ‘We can’t thank the families that donate enough. Thanks to someone else, she’s gotten to see four grandkids and us and until someone is in that situation, they don’t know what organ donation is all about.?
‘When you meet transplant recipients and see their quality of life and the impact this has made on them and their families and the extended years with their families, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would deny that to another human being,? said Tislerics. ‘I’ve met a lot of donor families and many of them find great solace and comfort in the donation. It allows them an opportunity to focus on something positive that came out of a tragedy and allows them to view their loved one as a hero.?