NEWARK - Karen Cowger has many reasons to celebrate the holiday season this year and is looking forward to doing each one.
This will be her first Christmas since having a lung transplant operation last January.
"This is my second chance at life," the Newark resident said. "I am doing as much as I can in my church; doing stuff with my grandkids again that we weren't able to do before."
Cowger was diagnosed with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis in January 2003. There is no cure, except for a transplant.
"I was only suppose to live two or three years after the diagnosis so I outlasted what I was suppose to," she said. "In December 2007, I had a bout with pneumonia that just about took me out, but I got cleared up from that, then was put on the transplant list."
Cowger's life before her transplant consisted of continual weakness and having to be constantly on oxygen. She had to go on medical disability and stop working.
"This time last year, I couldn't do any shopping, couldn't make cookies," she said. "I was on eight liters of oxygen a minute continuously."
She was constantly staying at her house or her parents' house, because she needed help with about everything, even taking a shower, because her oxygen levels were so low.
"I was doing good if I could get off the couch and get into the bedroom," Cowger said. "Routine household chores, like shopping and cooking - any of the normal stuff we all take for granted - I couldn't do."
Cowger finally received the call from the Ohio State Medical Center in Columbus on Jan. 11, 2009, that a lung had been found, and Cowger and her family traveled to Columbus so she could have the operation.
"I got up there and things were absolutely wonderful," she said of the hospital, the staff and how everything was handled.
Her left lung was the worst and was the one replaced with the transplant.
"The other lung is infected, but not nearly as bad so we are just watching it," she said. "Hopefully, it won't come to another transplant."
Cowger acknowledges that for a lung to become available, another family, somewhere, had to lose someone special to them. She also admires the choice they made at a difficult time so she could have a chance at life.
"If it weren't for the donor coming at the time they did, I am sure I wouldn't be here now," she said. "It is truly amazing what people are willing to do, in a crisis situation, to make that decision to give that greatest gift there is and that is life."
Going into surgery, Cowger said she was at ease.
"Honestly, I wasn't nervous," she said. "I have told people that ever since I was diagnosed that it was going to be OK.
"Either the Lord will get me a lung when I need it or he is going to take me. Either way, it is OK."
Before the operation, Cowger had to rely a lot on family for care, said her grandson, Adam Pino.
"It was extremely stressful on the entire family to see her as 'delicate' as she was and not knowing how tomorrow would be for her," he said. "My grandmother was very limited in both mobility and everyday activities, such as showering, cooking and even talking for very long."
A few days after the operation, she was able to get up and walk around a bit without much pain.
"Three days after surgery, I was up and walking with no oxygen," she said. "It is truly a miracle.
"It was such a pleasure to be able to breathe again that a little hurt really didn't bother me since I could breathe and walk."
Her husband, Buster, had trouble in the beginning dealing with everything that was happening to her, not knowing the best way to be able to help, Cowger said.
"Since I got the lung, he has made a remarkable recovery as well," she said.
In the year since the operation, Pino said his grandmother has regained her independence rather quickly.
"Since her transplant our family has been relieved that she can once again care for herself," he said. "It is such a relief to see her with color in her face again.
"She is once again able to drive, cook, talk more and spend more time with us grandchildren."
Being able to spend that time with her family is special to Cowger as well as she is planning to have a big family Christmas gathering this year.
"This year, I am cooking and baking," she said. "I've got the tree up. I've got the gifts bought.
"We go to movies and play games outside. You don't realize how precious that is until you can't do it. It is really a blessing. This Christmas we are going to celebrate the fact we are all still together."
Cowger has always been a supporter of organ donation, signing up herself since she was young.
"I never expected to be on the receiving end of organ donation," she said. "I have been an organ donor since I first got my driver's license.
"It is really important for me to let as many people to know as I can. If you can pray about it and it is right in your mind then organ donation is the thing to do. Once you are gone you won't need those internal organs. If it helps save another life, it is rewarding to do that."
People never know when something could be of use to someone.
"I tell everyone that they need to think about it, because it could be your child that needs something someday or someone very close to you," Cowger said. "It is very important.
"If I hadn't gotten a donor, things would be a lot different, I am sure. You cannot thank the donor family enough. They are amazing people to be able to make that decision when they are having a family crisis."
