Remembering the courage, strength and determination of a special Cork woman

WHEN I met Isabel Terry for the first time in May, 2016, she felt life was slipping her by.

But after getting the ‘gift of life’, undergoing a double lung and heart transplant in September, 2017, she grabbed life with both hands.

“I remember waking up when I was 41 and thinking my life was crap,” Isabel said.

“Where did all the time go? I was in limbo.”

Even though Isabel was in limbo, she got a kick out of the things that we all like.

“I love shopping at the sales in Brown Thomas,” she said. “Even though I don’t have much energy.

“I love my make-up and I like to bake. I also like to socialise with my friends, even though when I go out and have a drink or two, I am wiped out for a couple of days afterwards.”

Isabel, from Bishopstown, an inspirational campaigner for organ donation, was born with pulmonary aertesia, a birth defect of the pulmonary heart in the valve.

She had her first open heart surgery at just three weeks old. The brave Cork woman lost her battle to live on October 12 this year.

She made her life count. She was no longer in limbo after a 14-year wait on the transplant list.

“I am so grateful to my donor for a chance at a normal life,” Isabel said.

I am going to protect and respect my new organs and live a long and active life. That is all down to the generosity of the donor and their family.

“My sister Julie said, ‘You’re not going to die’. My mother, Julie and Philip saved my life. I am going to mind and cherish these organs that my donor gave to me.”

The second time I met Isabel in October, 2018, she was without the oxygen tank that usually accompanied her everywhere 24 hours a day. Isabel had a new acquisition.

She had a sparkle in her eye and a sparkle on her finger. She was sporting a twin diamond sapphire to match the pink one her father bought her when she went on the transplant list.

“Dad bought me the pink sapphire ring when I decided to go on the transplant list in 2009,” Isabel told me.

He said if I agreed to go on the list, he would buy me a sapphire ring. He and I went everywhere together.

“After my operation, I was so very tired, I felt like giving up. I felt I had had enough. I wanted to die. Mum said; ’No, I haven’t had enough’. I asked her to let me go. I was so exhausted and in so much pain. ‘Please mum I begged’. She said to me, ‘You’ve fought for 42 years. Don’t give up.”

Isabel didn’t.

“Mum was by my side, showing me pictures of loved ones. She told me not to give up on myself. When she showed me a photo of us with dad, I believed that I smiled for the first time.”

Isabel smiled a lot the day we met for coffee in Bishopstown, sparkling with a new promising lease of life since she underwent a rare double lung and heart transplant after a record wait of 15 years, stunning the medics in the Newcastle Freeman Hospital in England.

“The medical team thought that I might not survive the double transplant operation,” Isabel said. 

I was told before the operation that there was a 40% success rate.

Aside from the phenomenal success of her double lung and heart transplant, I wanted to know more about matters of the heart concerning the romantic proposal from Philip who, by all accounts, was a dab hand at baking delicious chocolate cake.

Isabel, glowing with happiness told me: “Philip proposed to me on a hot air balloon. We were in Philadelphia visiting my brother, Robert, for the first time in six years as well, so it was a fabulous trip.”

Isabel, in seventh heaven, loved the trip without the usual trappings that reminded her of her plight.

“I didn’t have to bring the oxygen tank with me,” she said.

“I have way more energy. I wake in the morning, get out of bed, shower, put on my make-up, get dressed, go out for lunch. I am able to do all the normal things that women do without getting out of breath and having to go back to bed for hours.”

Isabel, sporting a spectacular diamond sapphire and with the aura of good health and happiness about her, knew she couldn’t do everything.

“I can’t climb mountains,” she said. “But I can get around more easily and I am healthy.

Looking back now, I realise how sick I was. In 2003, I was given between six and 12 months to live.

She defied the odds.

“I didn’t want to give in,” Isabel said. “I have a stubborn streak!”

“When Philip and I went back to Newcastle and saw the staff and the staff in the ICU, they could not believe how well I was. One of them said to me, ‘Who are you? You only left in December!”

One of them won a bet too.

“The team of 26 medics in Newcastle discussed my case about being a suitable recipient for the donor’s heart and lungs. I thought I might not make it and that I could reject the organs.”

Isabel had huge backing.

“They knew I had huge family support and a real will to live,” says Isabel.

“I met one of the medical team in May. He said, ‘I knew you’d make it. I won the bet!’”

The operation was life-changing.

“Before, I was just existing, in bed for over 20 hours a day. I know there is so much ahead of me,” she told me at the time.

And there was.

In 2020, a wedding was in the offing and house hunting had begun. And her boy wonder was still doing his thing.

“Philip is doing the cooking at home. He always has dinner ready!” says Isabel.

“He’s doing the spring cleaning too!”

Isabel was full of the joys of life, and looking forward to a bright promising future. But it was not to be.

The lion-hearted woman passed away in October this year peacefully, surrounded by her loving family, after a life of long illness borne with great courage, strength and determination.

She made life count. As a young, fun-loving woman with an appetite for life, she tried to fit into the mould, living the life she was given.

“I am always aware that it was through other people that my life was saved,” she said.

Isabel Terry wasn’t quite like other people. She was a one-off. She could have given up the fight she had fought since birth. But she didn’t.

I have a stubborn streak, remember?

Those were the last words Isabel said to me. She had so much more than that, defying the odds, grabbing life with both hands.

I know when I pass the Bishopstown Café where we often enjoyed a coffee together, I will feel a pang. A pang for the smiley girl who sparkled even when things seemed dim.

Isabel Terry, a one-off.

CARRY A CARD

Isabel used her voice to advocate for people to carry donor cards. For more information on how to carry a card see The Irish Kidney Association website. They are also available in doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies. You can also get a Digital Organ Donor Card App.