KENTVILLE, N.S. — They may have been born three minutes apart, but twin sisters Koren Davidson and Karen Spencer are facing their darkest days side by side.
For as long as she can remember, Davidson has looked out for her slightly younger sister.
“Our mother’s last words to me were ‘take care of Karen,’” said Davidson. “She must have known something we didn’t.”
Davidson has never imagined a time when Spencer wasn’t in her life.
Now that her twin is facing a double lung transplant, there’s no way she’ll let her travel that road alone.
Spencer, 53, is relocating to Toronto, where she will wait for word of an organ donor.
“I’m going to Toronto with her for support,” said Davidson. “She is the other half of me. I can’t live without her. My life is on hold. When she is better, I’ll look after me.”
DIMINISHED LUNG CAPACITY
For some time, her life returned to normal. She went back to work in continuing care at a long-term care facility, but with her diminished lung capacity, she now finds the job too physically demanding. Determined to return to new work, she went back to school and enrolled in a program for medical office administration.
She was working at Valley Regional Hospital in the final weeks of her placement last spring, and her health began failing after an ear infection became further complicated by a series of other infections. She was rushed to the hospital only weeks away from her graduation.
“I was at Walmart, grocery shopping with my husband, when I collapsed,” she said.
“I am afraid for what I’ll leave behind, for the pain this will cause.” - Karen Spencer
Early September saw Spencer back in the hospital, fighting to breathe.
“He told me my condition had progressed fast and that I was at end-stage lung disease,” she said.
Hearing the news, her mind raced to the darkest places.
She imagined dying - leaving her husband, sons, family and three dogs behind.
But it was those same fears that gave her courage to live.
She vowed to press forward for them.
“I cried my eyes out. I have faith in God and I’m not afraid of dying,” said Spencer. “I am afraid for what I’ll leave behind, for the pain this will cause.”
COSTLY TRAVEL REQUIRED
On Dec.18, she received word that she had been placed on a waiting list for a transplant.
She is now waiting to see a new doctor in Toronto.
If she is deemed healthy enough to continue in the program, she will relocate to an area that is within 45 minutes of the hospital and wait for the call that a donor has been found.
They expect to live in Toronto from three months to a year, perhaps longer.
Spencer is required to stay there three months after the operation to recuperate.
“She is the other half of me. I can’t live without her. My life is on hold.” - Koren Davidson
Her family has started a GoFundMe page, hoping to raise enough money to help Spencer cover living and incidental expenses while she is in Toronto.
She is determined to be healthy enough to go forward with the program. She started going to the gym three times a week under doctor supervision. Even with the new health regime, her lung capacity is declining.
“I have good days and bad days. Most days I have pain. I used to be a night owl, but now I’m done by 6 p.m.” she said. “A simple outing is exhausting. I love family gatherings, but Christmas and New Year’s were hard.”
The drugs she takes to slow the damage to her lungs make her nauseous. She’s losing her appetite and hair.
Her lungs are not supplying enough oxygen to support her.
She carts an oxygen tank everywhere she goes.
But she is far from defeated.
CALL FOR HELP
Natasha Vaughan, Davidson’s daughter, says her aunt has always been there for her family, and now her family is there for her.
Vaughan is organizing fundraisers to help cover costs associated with her aunt’s mandatory medical journey to Toronto.
“It’s not just day surgery, she has to relocate to another province and adapt to a new way of life,” she said. “She needs to be within 45 minutes of the hospital in Toronto and wait for the call. The cost of living in Toronto is high and she needs help paying the expenses.”
The provincial health coverage will pay the cost of travel and some drugs, but many expenses are out of pocket – all at a time when her household is down to one income.
It breaks Vaughan’s heart to watch her mother and aunt go through this. She worries what the future holds for her own sister, who has cystic fibrosis. Her aunt, an older sister to the twins, died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis a few years ago.
“Someday this could be my sister,” she said. “A common cold could take my sister out. She has a young daughter; how can you explain that to a little girl?”
She said they are a close family and losing one member is devastating for all.
“It’s like a puzzle, if you take a piece away, nothing else will ever fit in its place,” she said. “It will never be whole again.”
For more information on how to help Spencer, visit the Operation Breathe Easy (Karen Spencer) GoFundMe page.
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