Mayne event leads to new life following lung transplant

LEOPOLD’s Marcel Mayne knows she is one very lucky lady and will be forever grateful for the gift of life she received last year.

The 64-year-old underwent a double lung transplant at The Alfred after suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, which she developed over a number of years after bout of pneumonia.

Speaking to help promote DonateLife Week (July 28-August 4), Ms Mayne said she received a call from The Alfred on March 19, 2018 at 5.20am to tell her new lungs were available.

“My daughter and I left at 6.30am and got down there and I was in theatre at 9.30am and I was in ICU at 6.30pm that evening with two new lungs,” she said.

“They told me if they hadn’t have transplanted me when they did, I wouldn’t have made it to Christmas.”

Ms Mayne said she didn’t know whose lungs she had received, but that she was so grateful for the gift she was given.

“My grandkids love it… I can dance with my granddaughter, and my grandson isn’t embarrassed when I pick him up anymore because I don’t have my oxygen with me.

“I knew I was sick, but I never used to think about it.

“I have a table of photos of people who I have known who have passed on, and there is a frame with some paper flowers in it and that’s for her, because I just feel I owe a huge debt.

“That’s why I do public speaking, for her and for her family, because I think at their worst hour, they were kind enough to donate her organs.

“They’ve just given me this gift and I’m so grateful for it.”

Ms Mayne’s health issues started back in 2002 when she got sick while on holiday, and then in 2006 she came down with a bad cough.

“I had chest X-rays, which showed shadows on my lungs and they thought I had lung cancer, which clearly I didn’t, but it was from the pneumonia,” she said.

“My lungs were damaged and so vulnerable to infection so I kept getting sick, and I was still working and doing everything, but I couldn’t kick it and I was on antibiotics more than off.”

In 2015, Ms Mayne stopped work because she was getting more and more short of breath, and then in 2016 a specialist suggested a lung transplant.

Ms Mayne went to The Alfred and undertook extensive testing before she was put on the organ donation list in April 2017.

“I was so exhausted all the time and by Christmas that year, all I could do was have a shower and wash my hair and sit in the chair all day, I couldn’t shop or do anything.”

Following her transplant, Ms Mayne came home after eight weeks of rehabilitation and slowly but surely got back into life.

“I am now back to the gym four times a week and do everything everyone else does, and it’s so fantastic and I’m so lucky and I’m so fortunate.”

Ms Mayne now uses her experiences to help others preparing for organ transplants and gives talks to encourage others to sign up to the Australian Organ Donor Register. For more information, head to donatelife.gov.au.