LEOPOLD\u2019s Marcel Mayne knows she is one very lucky lady and will be forever grateful for the gift of life she received last year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me if they hadn\u2019t have transplanted me when they did, I wouldn\u2019t have made it to Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Mayne said she didn\u2019t know whose lungs she had received, but that she was so grateful for the gift she was given.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandkids love it\u2026 I can dance with my granddaughter, and my grandson isn\u2019t embarrassed when I pick him up anymore because I don\u2019t have my oxygen with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I was sick, but I never used to think about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019s for her, because I just feel I owe a huge debt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve just given me this gift and I\u2019m so grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Mayne\u2019s health issues started back in 2002 when she got sick while on holiday, and then in 2006 she came down with a bad cough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had chest X-rays, which showed shadows on my lungs and they thought I had lung cancer, which clearly I didn\u2019t, but it was from the pneumonia,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy lungs were damaged and so vulnerable to infection so I kept getting sick, and I was still working and doing everything, but I couldn\u2019t kick it and I was on antibiotics more than off.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ms Mayne went to The Alfred and undertook extensive testing before she was put on the organ donation list in April 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019t shop or do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following her transplant, Ms Mayne came home after eight weeks of rehabilitation and slowly but surely got back into life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am now back to the gym four times a week and do everything everyone else does, and it\u2019s so fantastic and I\u2019m so lucky and I\u2019m so fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n