Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

blood-drive-Rich-Rauner

Full Text:

Blood Drive For Rich Rauner Set December 17

(with cuts)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

A dedicated blood drive will be held for Richard Rauner at the United

Methodist Church on Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook from 1:45 to 6:45 pm on

Thursday, December 17.

It has been more than seven months since the 58-year-old Sandy Hook resident

entered Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia to wait for a heart

transplant. He expected to be there perhaps a month or two.

But the organ donation rate has dropped nationwide, and it hasn't helped that

Mr Rauner has type O blood. "I'm a universal donor -- I can give to A, B, AB

and O, but I can only receive type O," he said. "That means a donor heart must

come from someone who is type O."

Hospitals usually set aside 150 to 200 units of blood for heart transplant

surgery. Pennsylvania, where Mr Rauner's surgery is to be done, requires that

blood used must be replaced. That isn't a problem in Rich Rauner's case

because 123 units already were collected in his name in a blood drive last

July and credited to his account.

That doesn't mean, however, that the blood is sitting somewhere in a

refrigerator waiting for Mr Rauner's surgery. Blood is perishable. The blood

collected last summer already has been used for other patients.

"This is a holiday period when it is the most difficult time to collect

blood," said Elaine Woody, of the Blood Services Department of the Western

Connecticut chapter of the American Red Cross. "Some people are sick with the

flu, others are busy doing other things and they just aren't thinking about

the need to give blood. Our collections drop dangerously low during the

holiday periods. We have been importing blood from other parts of the country

because our collections are way off."

"Hospitals are screaming `Where's the blood?'," she said. "We really need the

support of the community. Newtown has always been one of those communities

that we can count on to respond to our pleas."

Each unit of whole blood donated can be made into five components: red cells,

for patients like Rich Rauner who require surgery, lose blood in accidents or

have anemia; white cells for patients who have such disorders as leukemia;

platelets to control bleeding in patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments

or who have leukemia; plasma, used to treat shock and burn victims; and

cryoprecipitate, used to treat bleeding in hemophiliacs.

Members of Junior Girl Scout Troop 103 of Sandy Hook and Hawley schools will

assist at the blood drive. There will be a card for Rich Rauner for donors to

sign. Donors also can bring canned goods and unwrapped gifts for the Newtown

Fund's Christmas basket program and the FAITH food pantry.

Mr Rauner, who retired on disability from the Newtown post office, has been in

Temple University Hospital since May 6, waiting for a heart to become

available through the nationwide United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)

program. While he waits, receiving intravenous medication to keep his weakened

heart pumping, his friends in Newtown and surrounding towns have been trying

to help with his other needs.

The Newtown Lions Club, Newtown Congregational Church and United Methodist

Church are planning to hold a pancake breakfast at the Methodist church, where

Mr Rauner is a member of the congregation, to benefit him. The event will be

held on Saturday, January 16, from 8 am to 2 pm. Tickets, from the sponsors

and at the library, will be available in advance and at the door for $5 per

person, $15 per family, or $2.50 for children under 10.

Waiting For Surgery

Paul J. Mather, MD, associate director of the Cardiomyopathy Center at the

Temple University School of Medicine, is one of Mr Rauner's doctors, part of a

team that includes six doctors and two surgeons, a psychiatrist, 13 nurses and

nurse coordinator. There currently are about 20 patients at the hospital

waiting for a heart transplant.

"Every year 14,000 people become potential for heart transplants," Dr Mather

said. "We do about 2,500 a year nationwide because of the limits of the donor

pool. Last year 82 adults were done at Temple. Our success rate was 87 percent

last year, 92 percent the year before. Our five-year success rate is 77

percent, about the same or better than the national average."

While Rich Rauner has been at Temple, there have been good outcomes and

deaths. Several patients have had successful transplants and have been

released from the hospital. A few have died when their new heart failed to

work properly or other complications set in. A retired firefighter from New

Jersey named Vinnie, who waited almost as long as Mr Rauner for a transplant,

suffered complications during the surgery on October 11 and now is nearly

blind and cannot walk although his new heart is working well.

"It's very difficult for some of the new patients here because they haven't

seen any successes," Mr Rauner said. "I'm trying to keep their spirits up."

"I'm very blessed with the friends, the cards, the gifts, the phone calls from

all over the country," he said. "People say I'm strong, I'm an inspiration,

but I'm not. I'm just an average, ordinary person with my weaknesses, the same

as everyone, and to tell you the truth, everyone who sends the cards, the

letters, the pictures -- you are the heroes, you are the ones that give me the

strength to go on."

Mr Rauner is undergoing blood tests this week because he has developed a

low-grade fever and doctors are always concerned that his condition could

deteriorate before a donor heart is found.

"I'm not worried," Mr Rauner said. "It really is up to the good Lord to decide

how well it will turn out. We all hope -- those of us that are still waiting

(for a heart) -- that when our time comes, we will be ready."

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

Parkenson Building, Room 706A, Broad and Ontario Streets, Philadelphia, PA

19140.

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.