By JOAN LEHBERGER
On Dec. 21, 2013, our daughter, Sandra Lehberger Rigg, was airlifted to Presbyterian Hospital with massive congested heart failure and placed on total life support. She remained in a coma for six weeks; the doctors and staff thought she would not survive Christmas day. But, God had other plans for her and on Dec. 27, 2013 they surgically implanted in Sandra an LVAD, which is a left ventricular artery device also known as an artificial heart.
Sandra was transferred to University of Pennsylvania Hospital where she gradually came out of the coma and they prepared her for a heart transplant. She was on and off the list to receive a heart transplant, due to the medical criteria to be on the list to receive a heart.
On March 3, 2014, Sandra came home to wait for a heart transplant. The Christmas tree was still in the living room, the gifts untouched. Her husband Jeff, children Brittany and Jeffrey chose to wait to have Christmas with Sandra, a very emotional homecoming for the family. They also celebrated Sandra’s 47th Birthday, which was Dec. 29.
Living with the artificial heart was not easy. She returned to University of Pennsylvania Hospital three times a week for checkups and blood work. Her dad Ken, took her to Cardiac Rehab three times a week at Shore Memorial Hospital to prepare her strength for the heart transplant. The weight of the batteries to run the artificial heart was 10 pounds on her body and she carried a satchel with two additional batteries as a backup if the others failed. At night, she removed the batteries and was attached to a base station in her bedroom.
The base station ran on household electricity, recharging the batteries and running the artificial heart in Sandra during the night. She had a 25-foot tether line so she could reach the bathroom. Then, in the morning, she returned to the batteries. She slept elevated because the artificial heart was too heavy to lie down.
On Sept. 29, 2014 at 6:00 a.m., she got the call from University of Pennsylvania Hospital, a heart for Sandra was coming. She and husband Jeff immediately went to the hospital and the family followed.
We will never forget that day. We were told to watch for the helicopter and when it came, they said it was the “heart for Sandra.” We cried and thanked God. It was a heart from a 20-year-old girl. We do not know the circumstances, only that doctors matched it to Sandra. Eventually, she may know more, but it could take a year. It was amazing to see this transplanted heart beating on the heart monitor, like it had been there forever, amazing and a miracle.
Sandra came home October 27, 2014, four weeks after heart transplant surgery. She is a miracle of answered prayers from family and friends all over the country who have been praying for her. She takes lots of medication daily to survive. A team of three doctors at University of Pennsylvania Hospital follow her regularly for any signs of heart rejection. So far she has had zero signs of heart rejection. Cardiac rehab is the next step to recovery.
After her heart transplant, a young intern from Presbyterian Hospital came to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital ICU to visit Sandra. The young, female intern told her, “Mrs. Rigg, you were my first patient as an intern and I and the staff thought you would not survive. I just returned for my second session as an intern at Presbyterian Hospital and the staff told me you were alive and had received a heart transplant. I wanted to see for myself that you are doing so well with your successful transplant. I will never forget you, Mrs. Rigg. I thank you for teaching me that as a doctor of medicine, I must never give up on my patients, miracles do happen.”
This holiday season, we thank the family of the 20-year-old heart donor for our daughter’s new life. We encourage everyone to become an organ donor. Sign up on your driver’s license or visit the “Gift of Life” at www.donors1.org. You can give someone a Gift of Life.
Sandra lives in Egg Harbor Township with her family, husband Jeff, & adult children Brittany & Jeffrey. Throughout the entire nine months she was supported with family at her side: Sister, Susan Makres and family, Egg Harbor Township; Brother Ken Lehberger, Jr. and Family, Mays Landing; Brother Mark Lehberger and family; Parker, Colorado (made two N.J. visits to Sandra); Father-in-Law Ralph Rigg, Upper Township.
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