®lft -Portiani» (Dbserticr
Page 4
New
1987, L uther said he w as hom e sit­
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fr o n t
ting in the green and beige lounging
arm s felt like they had needles stick­ chair he currently sits in, w hen he
began to feel pain em erge in his
ing out o f them .”
A fter w itnessing the expression ch est.
A fter M arie saw the expression
o f her husband, M arie asked if he
was alright, but w hen it becam e clear on his face again, she rushed him to
he w a sn ’t, she drove him to the the nearest hospital.
“T he next day she (the nurse)
nearest hospital.
“ I w ent in, and I said 1 need to see told my w ife w e had a second heart
a doctor. M y chest is really hurting attack ,” he said. “ I could see the fear
in her face.”
m e,” he said.
A lthough they stabilized him ,
The health professionals ad m in ­
L
ockett
said, “ It was the only tim e I
istered m orphine for the pain, but
Lockett said the drugs w ere not had a feeling I m ight be ready to
cash it in, and 1 told her (M arie),
helping him feel better.
“T hat is w hen they told m e I was ‘G uess I w o n ’t be see my g ran d ­
experiencing a heart attack,” he said. daughters a g ain .’”
U n a b le to b e a r th e th o u g h t,
The couple doesn ’ t rem em ber the
nam e o f the drug the hospital told M arie c a lle d h e r d a u g h te r, w ho
M arie she needed to sign o ff on, but w o rk ed fo r an airlin e c o m p an y out
they both recalled, in unison, the o f C a lifo rn ia , an d she p u t th e ir 4-
y e a r g ra n d d a u g h te r Le S h a n te on
pow er the m edicine had on him.
Lockett w asn ’t allow ed to leave a p lan e to P o rtla n d .
“O ur fam ily is clo se,” he said.
the island for six w eeks, but he re­
“ But my heart w as p u m p in ’ l/5 th o f
covered quickly.
“I ow e my life to her,” he said, w hat it should be p u m p in ’. T hey
looking across their living room to gave m e at m ost 2-years.”
But after his daughters talked
his wife, w ho sm iled a m odest smile.
A fter recovery, L uther returned w ith the doctors, they suggested a
to w ork for tw o years, until m id- transplant, w hich L uther said he
1986, w hen he w as encouraged to had yet to consider.
“ So they ran tests and then sent
take a m edical retirem ent because o f
m e to O H SU fo r som e m ore tests,”
the poor condition o f his heart.
A few days after the N ew Y ear in he said. “ I m et w ith social w orkers,
p sy c h o lo g ists, and fin ally , they
approved m e.”
He w as put on a w aiting list for a
transplant on a W ednesday, and by
the following Sunday at 1 a.m., M arie
and L uther L ockett received the life
changing phone call, saying “ W e
have a heart for yo u .”
E v e r y th in g b e g a n to m o v e
quickly once they arrived at the
hospital, w here they took him to a
room that contained a plethora o f
boxes, which Lockett said resem bled
U N IV E R S IT Y
Living the Legacy
TR IBU TE
REV. DR. W.G. HARDY, JR.
Advocate for Portland's African American community
$5 general public
FREE with valid student ID
Tickets available at the PSU Box Office
503-725-3307, or Ticketmaster outlets
Complete details at pdx.edu/mcc
Sponsored by
Urban League of Portland, Black United Fund of Oregon,
Oregon Nikkei Foundation, Mexican Consulate, PSU Office
of Information Technology, PSU Multicultural Center,
PSU Office of University Communications
“The num ber one m yth still preva­
lent in o ur com m unity is that people
think that if the hospital know s
th e y ’re a registered donor, doctors
w o n ’t try to save their life, but that
is not true at all,” she said.
O rgan, eye and tissue donation
happens only after all life saving
effo rts has b een e x h a u ste d and
death has been, we believe, d e ­
clared, she said. “T he hospital staff
are there to tend to your im m ediate
em ergency and d o n ’t access donor
Heart transplant recipient Luther Lockett Jr. in his northeast Portland home, 25 years after his
lifesaving operation.
(&>
Portland State
V*/
7 P .M .
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Student
Union Ballroom, Room 355
1825 SW Broadway
the batteries from the B onneville
sub-station at his w ork.
“T h ey said, that is w hat is going
to keep you alive w ithout a heart,”
he recalled. “I had heard m y heart
was com ing from V ancouver, and
that is the last thing I rem em ber until
M o n d ay .”
T hroughout the tw o-w eeks in the
hospital after his surgery, L ockett
said w ithin a few days he “ h a d n ’t
felt that good in a long tim e.”
Previously, he said the w alk from
photo by M indy C ( x » per /T he P ortland O bserver
I
THURSDAY,
JANUARY 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
the bedroom to the living room was
a w ind full.
“ But since the transplant, I w as
no longer disabled, and if I am no
longer disabled, I could go back to
w ork,” he said.
At the tim e, he said w aiting lists
fo r organ transplants w ere m uch
shorter.
“ As m ore people hear about it,
see w hat it does, and w hat it m eans,
m ore people are put on the w aiting
lists than they have organs fo r,” he
said. “ So w e try to educate people
because there is a need, and tran s­
plantation does w ork.”
H e said, how ever, you still have
to ta k e c are o f y o u rs e lf, o b e y
d o c to r’s orders, and above all, take
your m edications, including the anti­
rejection drug, w hich he said he w ill
take for the rest o f his life.
“ I know a lot o f people, esp e­
cially black people, w ho will tell you
that w h atev er I w as b o m w ith I w ant
to be bu ried w ith,” he said. “B ut if
you have know n som eone, it is d if­
ferent, and they are w illin g .”
H e encourages everyone to talk
to their fam ily m em bers, if they d o n ’t
know y o u r w ishes.
H u n t a g re e s. “ I th in k fo r so m e
p eo p le it is really h ard to ta lk ab o u t
d e a th , an d d o n a tio n s are re la te d
to d e a th ,” sh e said . “ B u t w e lik e
p e o p le to c o n s id e r th in k in g a b o u t
th e g o o d th a t c an h a p p e n fro m
th e ir p a ssin g , an d th ey c an h e lp
o v e r 5 0 p e o p le b y b e in g an o rg a n ,
e y e a n d tissu e d o n o r.”
reg istry .”
A lth o u g h M a rie a n d L u th e r
L o c k e tt sa id th e y d o n ’t k n o w
m u ch a b o u t the d o n o r, d e sp ite
m u ltip le a tte m p ts to lo c ate his
fa m ily , th ey b e lie v e he w as a late-
te en w ho w as k ille d in a c a r a c c i­
d en t w ith a frie n d on a h ig h w a y in
V a n co u v e r.
A lth o u g h L o c k e tt n e v e r h ad
th e c h a n c e to s p e a k w ith th e
d o n o r’s fa m ily m e m b e rs, if g iv en
th e o p p o rtu n ity , h e w o u ld say,
“T h a n k you, th an k yo u , th an k you.
B ec a u se w h a te v e r th e ir lo v e d on e
h a s d o n e, o r w h at k in d o f p e rso n ,
he has b een a g o o d p e rso n to m e .”
A s a w ay to give back, L ockett is
a volunteer w ith D onate Life N orth­
w est, sharing the m essage o f the
im portance o f organ donation.
A lthough studies show that 90
percent o f A m ericans support trans­
plantation, only 30 percent know
the steps n eeded to sign up on their
state’s registry.
In conjunction w ith the A m eri­
can R ed C ross M artin L u ther K ing
Jr. B lood D rive on Saturday, Jan. 21
at the R ed C ross B lood C en ter on
V ancouver A venue, residents are
encouraged to also sign up for the
organ do n o r registry.
R egistration can also be m ade
online at d o n atelifen w .o rg , by re­
q u e stin g a d o n o r co d e on y o u r
d riv er’s license at any D epartm ent
o f M o to r V ehicle office, o r by c all­
ing 503-494-7888to m ake the change
through a p ap er form .