Waiting for breath

Burlington Free Press | April Burbank
Tammy Shackett, 50, is waiting for a new pair of lungs and has been on the donor list since April 2012. Though she has never smoked, doctors have diagnosed her with asthma, emphysema and bronchiectasis. / EMILY McMANAMY, Free Press
Much of Tammy Shackett's life has been on hold since her lungs started to fail. While she waits for a double transplant, she's spreading the word about organ donation in Vermont, which has one of the lowest overall donor registration rates in the country.
She would begin her day without having to use a nebulizer just to be able to move about the house. She would play with her 5-year-old granddaughter outside, the way she was never able to do when her two sons were young, or take a walk with her husband without stopping. She would wash dishes without sitting down to rest every few minutes. Laughter would not leave her winded.

All of that will have to wait until after surgery.

Shackett, a Bristol resident, needs a double lung transplant as her 35-year struggle with emphysema, asthma and bronchiectasis takes its toll. She has never smoked, she says.

“There’s no air coming in, there’s no air going out,” Shackett said. “It just feels like I’m smothering and suffocating. It’s a scary feeling.”


______________________________________________________ 
"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor TODAY
In California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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