Saving Lungs, Saving Lives

Two Canadian doctors are extending the best-before dates on transplants

- Karin Olafson

MADELINE STROUP WAS looking forward to a weekend away at her family cabin in the Okanagan-Similkameen region of B.C., with her boyfriend, Hayden Turcotte, and friend Tyrell Gait. That Friday in July 2019, the group began the roughly four-hour drive east from the city of Maple Ridge, outside of Vancouver. Less than an hour after their departure, an SUV sped through a stop sign and crashed into the driver’s side of their car.

Turcotte, the driver, died instantly. Gait had minor injuries. For Stroup, in the passenger seat, the impact resulted in serious head trauma, and she was airlifted to the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. In the ICU, Stroup remained unconscious. She was 23, so doctors were hopeful that she would come out of the coma. As everyone waited, the nurses did everything they could to care for Stroup. They carefully washed and braided her lightbrown hair. They talked to her.

Four days after the accident, tests showed that the swelling in Stroup’s brain had significantly worsened. Now, there was no chance the young woman would wake up.

Previously, Stroup had signed her name to the provincial organ donor registry. So, for the next three days, she was kept on life support as hospital staff ran tests to determine how well her heart, kidneys and liver were functioning and to see if she was a match for any recipients on the transplant waiting list. She was, and saved five lives.

But she had sustained chest injuries in the accident, and despite Stroup having consented to also give away her lungs, tests showed that they were too damaged to transplant.