Since 2011, re-occurring chest infections kept admitting Alana into hospital more frequently, scarring and decreasing her lung capacity to 20 per cent.
As Alana’s health started to decline, she faced the challenge of securing a place on the lung transplant waiting list due to weighing 42kgs. In order to increase her weight, a feeding tube was implanted into her stomach and she began to wear her oxygen machine, nicknamed ‘lassie’, for 16 hours a day.
“I was determined to prove to those doctors that I can do this, I will get a transplant. My attitude has always been nothing will ever stop me, my illness will never take over who I am.”
Alana proved her determination to doctors, managing to gain weight and passing the main indicators to be able to get onto the lung transplant waiting list.
“I was in hospital at the time and the nurse came into my room saying ‘Alana you are on the list’ and it was like yes finally because it was this weight off my shoulders.”
“I was literally waiting for that phone call, to say there were lungs for me, everyday. I had to have my phone with me everyday. I couldn’t leave Canterbury. Everyday I got worse and worse. I knew I needed that operation because I ended up being on oxygen 24/7.”
After spending 6 weeks on the waiting list, Alana received the life changing phone call at 2:30am on the 29th of July. The Taylor family flew up to Auckland that morning, where Alana underwent a 6-hour operation. She awoke after a twelve-hour coma with a smile on her face, to the surprise of her nurses.
“I wasn’t scared that I was having a major operation. I didn’t know what the outcome was going to be but I knew my whole life was going to change.”
Alana can now wash her own hair without becoming exhausted, walk to her letter box in ease and has enough energy to make her bed, no longer taking her half an hour to complete. She can now string sentences together without coughing and is able to run into the ocean, a summer activity she has never been able to achieve before.
She still has cystic fibrosis and has to take a range of medication such as anti rejection drugs and vitamins. Due to her illness affecting her pancreas, Alana has to take enzymes every time she eats, as her body does not process food as it should. However, she no longer relies on her various oxygen machines, breathing in her own air to give her energy.
“I feel like a new person. It’s changed my perception in life as well. Life is so precious. If you want to go and do something, go and do it. You don’t want to live your whole life saying what if and that’s what I want to keep doing to myself, keep challenging myself.”
Throughout Alana’s journey, what surprised her the most was how low New Zealand’s organ donation rates are. She believes it is due to the current driver’s licence system, families vetoing organ donation and the lack of awareness.
“New Zealand needs a better system. It needs to change and as a person who has received a donor’s organs, something needs to be done. You need to talk to your families about your wishes because at the end of the day, they have the final decision if you ever end up in the position where you are in ICU.”
Even though there were 53 deceased organ donors in 2015, the largest number ever in New Zealand, our deceased donation rate remains among the lowest in the world.