Last May, Vinday Athwal suffered a massive heart attack while driving on the Coquihalla highway.
“It felt like somebody was sitting on my chest. I couldn’t even breathe,” she said.
After months in the hospital, doctors knew she wasn’t going to recover fully. She needed a transplant.
“She initially waited in hospital for an organ for over two months,” Dr. Anson Cheung, a surgeon at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital, said.
Doctors at St. Paul’s Hospital inserted a ventricular assist device (VAD) in her body. It’s a small pump that does the work her damaged heart can’t.
Doctors hope the VAD will keep her alive long enough to make it to surgery.
“It’s just a bridge until I get a transplant,” she said.
“It’s just a waiting game now,” Athwal added. “Thank God I had the VAD because at least I’m waiting at home instead of being in the hospital. You get to see your kids every day.”
As they wait for a transplant, the Athwal family has made it their goal to see more people on the donor registry.
They’re focusing particular attention on members of the South Asian community, who make up just one per cent of registered donors.
“The numbers in the South Asian community are not where I would like to see it,” husband Ray Athwal said.
Those interested in registering as an organ donor can do so at the B.C. Transplant website.
-With files from Aaron McArthur