Date: Fri 29-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Rich-Rauner-heart-transplant

Full Text:

Rich Rauner Waits For A New Heart And A New Life

(with photo)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

Rich Rauner, a man who has spent a lifetime helping others, is in Temple

University Hospital in Philadelphia, waiting for a new heart.

"Maybe I'll be home for the Labor Day Parade -- maybe I'll be in it," he said

cheerfully in a telephone interview this week. "I may see my 58th birthday (on

September 6). During the past year, as each holiday passed, I packed away all

the decorations, figuring I'd never see that one again."

He already 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.

After both women died within the past year, and his own condition worsened, Mr

Rauner calmly accepted his fate. He retired from the post office in March and

started to put his affairs in order. He wrote to a childhood friend in

Pecksville, Penn., a coal mining town near Scranton, to tell him the news of

the deaths of his mother and Whit, and said goodbye.

It wasn't in his nature to stop helping others, of course. Just three days

after he volunteered at a fund-raising breakfast for Tom Ward, the 12-year-old

middle school student who has a rare form of cancer, Mr Rauner got a telephone

call from his childhood friend, Joey Caterina.

"I hadn't talked to him in nearly six years, but he was on the phone telling

me that I had to go to Temple University Hospital, that it was one of the

three top heart transplant hospitals in the country. Actually, I was very

content with the thought of death. I only decided to go (to Temple) because I

knew I'd never get him off my back."

Mr Rauner arrived at the hospital on May 5 and immediately began a week of

intensive testing.

"Teams of doctors test you from your toenails to the follicles of your hair,"

he said. "You never see one doctor at a time; you see five doctors at a time.

They even tested the blood flow in my eyelids."

Most patients who arrive at the hospital either have other medical problems

that rule them out as heart transplant candidates, or their hearts aren't in

bad enough shape yet to warrant the operation.

"Most are what is called status two, not quite bad enough or healthy enough to

get a heart," he said. "I turned out to be the one in 100 who immediately

qualifies for status one, top priority. They are pumping me full of miracle

drugs -- at a rate of about $50,000 a year. I haven't felt this good in 20

years. I will stay here until I die or I get a new heart."

The cardiologists at Temple University Hospital perform over 100 heart

transplants a year and have a success rate of 98 percent, he said. They

determined that Rich Rauner's heart was pumping at only 20 percent of the

normal rate. They also decided to pull four of his teeth that were in

questionable condition to try to eliminate the possibility of infection from

bacteria in the mouth, a standard precaution in transplant surgery.

Twelve patients at Temple are on the status one list and will wait an average

of two months for a compatible heart.

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

Mr Rauner explained. "The heart must not only match in blood type but also be

right for your height and weight. One man here who is 6-foot, seven-inches

tall waited five months because he needed a big heart. Another man, who is 47

(years old), got a heart in 23 hours."

There are just about as many women as men on the top priority list including a

28-year-old woman who has infant twins. The youngest person that Rich Rauner

has met in the transplant unit is 16; the oldest is 70.

"I may be the oldest, at 57, on the status one list," he explained, "but there

is a 70-year-old man, my roommate, who may qualify for a new program called

Older Hearts for Older People, a new technology which reconditions older

hearts for older patients."

A New Cause

Besides becoming a champion for organ donations, Rich Rauner also learned

something that disturbed him, something that has given him another cause to

fight for, like his successful effort to have a Huntington Disease Center

established in Connecticut.

"I've paid into Social Security throughout my lifetime. On May 4, the day

before I arrived here, I got in the mail from Social Security a letter that

said, yes, I was approved for Social Security disability payments -- I will

begin getting them in September."

Under federal law which dates back to about 1972, disabled persons must wait

six months before they can begin to collect disability income.

"I was floored," he said. "This is my money -- I paid into the system. I'm not

looking for charity. I have a little bit of money put away, and it's a good

thing because my income now is $135 a month. But can you imagine what happens

to people who have a family to support, a mortgage to pay? People go bankrupt,

they roll up credit card debt, they lose their homes. There are real horror

stories."

Mr Rauner said he appreciates the fact that the government must be sure a

worker is permanently disabled, not just in need of rehabilitation.

"There are enough safeguards in the system for that," he said. "Three doctors

must agree that you are permanently disabled. But to make (permanently)

disabled people wait six months is wrong; there's no common sense in it."

Just as soon as he gets his heart transplant, and is released from the

hospital, Rich Rauner intends to tackle the injustice. Meanwhile, he

encourages everyone to write to his senators and congressmen and urge a change

in the law.

"I thought I was going to die but it looks like God has other plans for me. I

firmly believe God sent me here and that I still have work to do," he said.

Locally, Mr Rauner's friend of 30 years, Barbara Nelson, has quietly begun a

fund-raising campaign to help pay for the expenses that aren't covered by Mr

Rauner's medical insurance.

"Rich has spent a lifetime doing for other people -- he never went anywhere

without thinking of others even if he was just going to the grocery store,"

she said. "He always was getting food and bringing it to someone in need. Now

it's our turn to do something for him."

Ms Nelson said contributions can be sent to the Richard Rauner Fund, Box 111,

Newtown 06470, or to the fund in care of Mary Herbert at Fleet Bank, 6 Queen

Street, Newtown 06470.

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

Parkenson Building, Room 706A, Broad and Ontario Streets, Philadelphia, Penn.

19140.