just to have that one day of breathing and feeling
what everybody else feels: normal."
| "If I die tomorrow,
I would do it all over again just to have that one day of breathing and feeling what everybody else feels: normal." |
|
Vivian Carol Vamvas
December, 1949 - April, 1998
by Jim Gleason
As recounted in an April 19, 1998 Asbury Park SUNDAY PRESS article:
"Vivian C. Vanvas was buying a Coke from Chick-Fil-A …when the ping of her beeper announced that her new lungs were on their way. Less than two hours later, Vamvas watched as the state police's Northstar helicopter descended into the parking lot of Matawan Regional High School, ready to whisk her on the 22-minute ride to the Philadelphia hospital where her double lung transplant would take place."
That was September of 1993. For four years those lungs would serve Vivian well as she continued working at Exxon, participating in our many local support organizations, and reaching out to give so much inspiration and love to others facing their own transplant challenges. Despite the long drive from north Jersey, Vivian attended so many of our Liaisons and TRIO (Transplant Recipients International Organization) activities that many thought she lived locally. She served in many roles, most recently as secretary to the Delaware Valley Transplant Program's Liaison for Life volunteer group.
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Many of us remember vividly the special memorial that followed DVTP's '96 U.S. Transplant Games luncheon. In a downtown courtyard, we released a dozen Monarch butterflies in memory of our mutual friend, Mary Alice. Those beautiful butterflies rose up into the sunshine - all except for one, which came to rest in Vivian's golden hair. Her eyes filled with tears as the significance became clear to all of us watching this special event. The butterfly had chosen to land on one of Mary Alice's closest friends. |
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Who will ever forget the unique bond that had developed between yet another Transplant Games participant, feisty little Amy, the five year old double- lung/heart recipient who so identified with Vivian as her "big sister?" Together they had shared the rare lung transplant experience. One of those butterflies was passed along to brighten Amy's days, while she was isolated in Children's Hospital across town.
About 18 months following these special events, Vivian would find herself fighting to stay the body's rejection of those lungs, but a second transplant was ruled out because of complications from her treatment. Vivian faced our common human mortality with her usual courage, living life to its fullest, accompanying her very supportive and loving family on a trip to Disney World and later a Caribbean cruise, even though she was within weeks of dying. With just days left, Vivian, supported by Amy's mother, Ingrid, joined to give the interview that is quoted above, the article titled: "Organ Donation - A Gift of Time." It was part of her annual effort in promoting National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week.
That article captures Vivian's legacy to us all, in her own words: "If I die tomorrow - I said this the first day after my transplant - I would do it all over again just to have that one day of breathing and feeling what everybody else feels: normal. I had four years that I would never have had. Look at all I would have missed."
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And as one who shared her friendship, I speak for so many when we think "how much we all would have missed," but, because of her courage, we didn't. We will never forget the gifts Vivian Vamvas left with each of us - a memory refreshed every time a butterfly re-appears in our lives. |
This story appears on TransWeb by permission of the author, Jim Gleason. All rights reserved.
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