Youngstown woman awaits lungs

YOUNGSTOWN — Genevieve Howard prays every day that a donor match will be found to replace her disease-weakened lungs before it is too late.

When she gets the call that lungs are available for her, Howard has just three hours to get to the Cleveland Clinic for the life-saving organ transplant operation.

“They can call me on my home phone or my cell phone. My suitcase is packed,” she said.

Unfortunately for Howard, who has been registered with LifeBanc, the organ and tissue recovery agency for Northeast Ohio, since June 13, 2006, she has not yet received the vital call.

“It is frustrating and scary. Here I am, 52, and haven’t begun to live my life the way I want to,” she said.

“I know it’s God’s will, but if I can just get some lungs ...,” she said, her voice trailing off.

Howard is one of some 1,400 men, women and children in the 20 counties served by LifeBanc in Northeast Ohio that are waiting for organ transplants. The number waiting for transplants in all of Ohio is 2,600, and in the United States, nearly 100,000, said Charles Heald of LifeBanc.

Heald said that out of 81 people in Ohio waiting for a lung transplant, 21 have waited 30 to 90 days, 23 have waited 90 days to six months, and 21 have waited six months to a year. Because Howard needs a double-lung transplant, finding a match is particularly difficult, Heald said.

Howard, a member of St. James AME Church, is suffering from sarcoidosis, which has no known cause or cure.

For complete story, see Monday's Vindicator or www.vindy.com.