Maia Grecco/The Globe and Mail
A few years ago, Tim Smith was strolling from Ottawa’s Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel to the Parliament buildings nearby when he started feeling out of breath. He found himself needing breaks along the way and was sweating by the time he reached his destination.
Tim was troubled – in his job working for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, he had walked the route without incident for years. So why, as an otherwise healthy 56-year-old, was he suddenly huffing and puffing, he wondered. And why was his condition getting worse every day?
Tim was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive disease that causes scarring of the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe. There is no cure.
Describing the time around his diagnosis as “a rollercoaster,” Tim remembers staying up reading terrifying stories online and worrying his grandchildren would never know their grandfather. His health suddenly spiralled while on a work trip in Calgary, landing him in the hospital with pneumonia for two weeks.
“I’m not much of a complainer, but I saw things getting progressively worse,” says Tim. “I was thinking I had two years to live, max.”
Tim Smith didn’t think he would live to see his 60s after being diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease.SUPPLIED
Fortunately, after the stint in the hospital, it was determined that Tim was a good candidate for a double lung transplant. While he was warned there would be no way to know how long he would have to wait for lungs to become available, the procedure was the only option to save his life.
After numerous tests, interviews and a week of assessments, Tim joined the almost 1,600 people in Ontario waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
Tim and his wife, Jeannie, made arrangements to move from Ottawa to downtown Toronto to be closer to the University Health Network. If lungs from a donor suddenly became available, they would be ready.
Today, Tim admits that in the tumult of finding an apartment in a new city, he barely thought about the ramifications of such major surgery. After all, the average wait time for new lungs was about four months, so he thought he had plenty of time to do more research and prepare himself emotionally.
But less than two weeks after finalizing his place on the waitlist, he got a call from the Toronto General Hospital transplant unit. “I have some positive news for you. We have a donor. We’d like you to come in,” said the woman on the phone.
Tim could hardly believe his good fortune. “I remember saying to her, ‘You have the most amazing job in the world,’” he says now.
Less than 12 hours later, Tim and his family arrived at the hospital. “I had heard about false calls before, so there was a part of me wondering if this was really going to happen,” he says. But the surgery was a go.
Before the surgery started, he asked to speak to the crowded room. “I’d like to thank you all,” Tim told them. “I feel so lucky and fortunate to have each of you looking after me. I can’t thank you enough.”
Tim remembers being wheeled to a large operating room where more than a dozen surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, technicians and fellows would be working on him.
Before the surgery started, he asked to speak to the crowded room.
“I’d like to thank you all,” Tim told them. “I feel so lucky and fortunate to have each of you looking after me. I can’t thank you enough,” he remembers saying. Then his thoughts turned to the donor and how the person’s selfless act would save his life. The entire operating room paused for a moment of silence in thanks.
Having received a double lung transplant, Tim is back to hiking and biking with his wife and grandkids.Supplied
The surgery took eight hours and Tim spent 23 days in the hospital. Although there were concerns about organ rejection and a year of challenging post-surgery recovery, Tim says he feels so grateful for the second chance he’s been given. With two new lungs and a regained sense of vitality, Tim’s determined to make the most of it.
Despite COVID-19 lockdowns, he’s been finding ways to enjoy that second shot at life by spending time with his wife, putting plenty of mileage on his electric bicycle and even hiking more than 10 kilometres – the first time he’s done so in eight years. He looks forward to playing with his four grandchildren post-pandemic.
Tim has also been paying it forward by mentoring other lung recipients, an activity that he says gives his life meaning and purpose. He has ongoing email correspondences with people who have just received new lungs and says they support each other.
“I [was] so thankful to talk to people who have gone through it before me. They helped prepare me – and I’m doing that for other people now,” he says.
Tim also hopes that sharing his story will help motivate people to act. More than 90 per cent of Ontarians are in favour of organ donation, yet only one in three have registered their consent to donate.
Having registered for organ donation long ago, Tim knows none of his new adventures would be possible without the caring stranger who took a couple of minutes to register as an organ donor online.
“It’s incredible. I wish there was a word to capture all of this. Someone donates their organs and it saves your life,” he says. “What an amazing legacy.”
Don’t wait — go to Trillium Gift of Life to learn more and become an organ donor today.
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Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with The Government of Ontario. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.
