Jackie's story began in an ICU, was later interrupted by an ICU, but it did not end there. Her story lives on. This timeline is a glimpse into her life as told in a book, A Chance Meeting with Life, written by her mother.
Jackie was operated on at six hours old for a perforated intestinal wall and spent sixty days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital... all due to a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis which involves primarily lungs and breathing but for Jackie, as we came to understand, also primarily intestines and digestion. Cystic fibrosis is known as "mucoviscidosis" in some countries, better describing sticky mucous impacting the body due to a sodium chloride imbalance at the cellular level. Dr. Clayton met her the first day of her life and remained her most significant doctor throughout her childhood.
Jackie was always happy while also dealing with health challenges and life interruptions associated with cystic fibrosis. Her school picture says it all. Her lips were chapped and, as would occur, the "chap" gravitated away from her lips creating a rim of healthy skin surrounded by an outer ring of chapped skin. Jackie did not care. Her t-shirt read, "Attitude is Everything" and how appropriate. Jackie had attitude the nature of which was happy in spite of anything coming her way.
High school and college were not a lot different than the rest of Jackie's life thus far. She embraced challenges, found pleasure in what the day did bring, and was successful socially and academically. After college graduation majoring in Finance, Jackie and her brother traveled throughout Europe, pictured here in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris by way of camera finegaling. High-spirited is the word to describe her.
Jackie was living her life as twenty-somethings do. She had a job in the finance department of the business office of Lidl, a German grocery store come to America. She was living with her college roommate in a mixed-use urban community, hanging out with friends, spending time with family. Her energy level was down and she needed yet another sinus surgery. Jackie went from being uncomfortable to being wisped away to the ICU, once again at Fairfax Hospital, at this point on precautionary. Her heart rate was up. As Jackie's mother, I felt a sense of dread. So very little did I know. Jackie's status devolved into an all-night effort to save her, intubation meaning an external breathing machine and a medically induced coma, this level of intervention driven by a brilliant medical team. They saved Jackie. It took months. The panel of intravenous interventions pictured here was just the start. A Chance Meeting with Life, Inside an Intensive Care Unit and Out.
The week following Jackie's lung collapse, intubation on a ventilator and survival on ECMO (an external lung machine), Jackie underwent an emergency bilateral lung transplant. Her twelve hour transplant surgery was followed the next day by four hours of "going in" again and then laparoscopic surgery the week end to come to clear out a tide of fluid surrounding her chest cavity. Jackie did survive unaware for several weeks until weaning off of sedation without agitation became possible. The breathing tube was eventually replaced by a "trach." Jackie remained on a "trach," (the device at her neck) to breathe for her at some level while slowly weaning off as she and her new lungs grew stronger and eventually independent. Her brother traveled down to "D.C." from Boston to see his miracle-of-a-sister, finally alert and aware of what happened to her.
Jackie was in a medically induced coma on a ventilator in critical condition for weeks, and gradually made her way from the hospital bed in the ICU to outside in front of the hospital. The preparation to get this fragile young lady outside took hours in what I called an orchestration. Jackie could not walk not because she forgot how to walk but because when in a coma, the brain and the systems in the body that allow for movement and, more sophisticated walking, have to reconnect... in time, slowly and painfully. The title of the book, A Chance Meeting with Life, because the chapter on this orchestration which allowed for Jackie to get outside ended with the line, "A chance meeting with the sun, a chance meeting with life." And true, it was.
By fall, Jackie exited the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital. She didn't need to be there anymore though she still had a long way to go. In the middle of this medical crisis, Jackie said to me, "I'm in hell." I told Jackie then, "I'm in hell with you and we will get out together." That day, we did. Still in pursuit of recovery, finally not needing an ICU, we went forward. There's no way to explain this. You would have to be there. The book I wrote does take you there. It's like being in the middle of it all as I was all those months as Jackie's mother, loving her, holding vigilance willing her to live. Our story ends well.
Jackie went from "our" hospital to a rehabilitation hospital to reclaim walking again. All along and even still, there were downturns, glitches, and hiccups. It's never a straight line out of a hospital and this one was near insane but that we didn't let it be, nor did the doctors. She detoured back to Fairfax Hospital before going home. There is no description adequate for "going home." Her brother soon after took her out for a ride. Jackie was back.
In the background of this photo is a sign at our entryway... "Home is where your story begins." Jackie's survival simply reminds us of this. And home is where her story did continue. Our girl lived to be happy again. as her story lives on.
Throughout Jackie's recovery, she delved into art. Pictured here is Jackie's art of Jackie based on a photograph while boating with friends. Jackie is out and about, working full time, having good friends and being a good friend, boating, grilling out, playing board games, just being Jackie.