Date: Fri 11-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Rich-Rauner-heart-transplant

Full Text:

Another Birthday Passes In Rich Rauner's Wait For A Heart

(with photo)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

Rich Rauner didn't make it home for the Labor Day Parade.

The former Newtown postal worker celebrated his 58th birthday on Sunday at

Temple University Hospital where he has been a patient since May 4, waiting

for a heart transplant.

"I've been here 17 weeks as of yesterday, but I'm not getting impatient," Mr

Rauner said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. "I know I predicted that I'd

be home for the parade and my birthday. But I look at it this way: Each day

I'm here brings me one day closer to the day I'll get out."

The average wait for a heart transplant is two months for patients in the

seventh-floor transplant unit at Temple. But because there has to be a perfect

match, this figure is meaningless, Rauner said.

"There's a mathematical formula that has to be satisfied for a perfect match,"

he explained. "The heart must not only match in blood type but also be right

for your height and weight. One man here who was 6'7" inches tall waited five

months because he needed a big heart. Another man got a heart in 23 hours."

In the July 3 edition of The Bee , Mr Rauner wrote about life on the seventh

floor and the patients who were waiting for heart transplants. Three of them

-- Pat, Bob and Jason -- have received compatible hearts, were discharged from

the hospital, and are recovering at home.

"All are doing very well," Mr Rauner said. "I'm now the third senior person on

the floor. Vinnie, the fireman from New Jersey, has been here five months.

Harold arrived three days before me."

The youngest patient on the floor, Thomas, is only 25. An emergency medical

technician, Thomas was admitted to Temple for an evaluation after being

hospitalized several times in New Jersey since July because of suspected viral

pneumonia.

"Actually he had viral cardiomyopathy," Mr Rauner said. "It's not unusual for

a hospital not to catch it. At first the doctors thought he would be able to

go home with medications, but instead he was declared `status one' today. He

needs a heart and a lung."

"He's an only child," Mr Rauner said. "It must be an unbelievably hard thing

for this young man and his parents to swallow."

Mr Rauner's long confinement at Temple has been easier because of the many

cards, letters and visits he has had from friends in Newtown and around the

country. Students at the Wesley Learning Center at the United Methodist Church

in Sandy Hook also have sent greetings to him.

"I've received over 1,000 cards and pictures," Mr Rauner said. "I don't get

down too much. I know I'm getting closer. It's just unfortunate that the

number of organ donations are down so much nationwide this summer."

To keep his strength up, Mr Rauner exercises every day.

"I do 10« miles on my stationary bike every day," he said. "I hate exercise.

My idea of exercise is indoor marbles -- with air conditioning. But friends

sent me a map and a yellow marker so I can plan my bicycle `trip.' They give

me inspiration."

One of his frequent visitors, Barbara Nelson of Southbury, went to Temple for

his birthday. "Richie looks very good," she said. "The phone calls and the

cards really help him."

While he is away, Ms Nelson has been organizing volunteers to help renovate

and paint Mr Rauner's house in the Shady Rest section of Sandy Hook. There's a

new tile floor in the bathroom, a retiled kitchen countertop and backsplash,

and the interior of the house is being painted.

"We're making an office in what was Richie's mom's room," Ms Nelson said.

"We're hoping for a donation of a computer so that he can get on the Internet.

There's so much he wants to do to let people know about the need for organ

donation."

Mr Rauner was a member of the task force that convinced the state legislature

to fund a Huntington's Disease center at the University of Connecticut Medical

Center in Farmington last year. He intends to work equally as hard to educate

the public about transplants, Ms Nelson said.

Cause For Concern

Several weeks ago the physicians at Temple became concerned because one of

Rich Rauner's toes was turning blue.

"They were worried about my diabetes, but that checked out okay," Mr Rauner

said on Tuesday. "They also were worried that a blood clot could form, but all

the tests -- an ultrasound X-ray and an MRI -- also turned out okay. The toe

is improving, and they don't have an explanation for what happened."

Rich Rauner had two major heart surgeries -- a triple bypass in 1983 and a

quadruple bypass in 1993 -- and was the care giver for his elderly mother and

his significant other of 30 years, Deidamia Whitman, who waged a 10-year

battle with Huntington's Disease. Both women died last year.

As his own condition worsened, Mr Rauner believed he would not live to see his

58th birthday. But a childhood friend from Pennsylvania insisted that he go to

Temple, one of the major transplant centers in the United States, for an

evaluation. After extensive testing, he was declared "status one" and placed

on intravenous medications that require him to remain in the hospital until

the transplant is done.

Celebrating his 58th birthday there didn't depress him, he said.

"I look at it this way: because I'm here I'll make the next one."

Cards and letters may be sent to Mr Rauner at Temple University Hospital,

Parkenson Building, Seventh Floor, Broad and Ontario Streets, Philadelphia, PA

19140.