Heart transplant recipient wins gold medal in Fla.

By linda denicola

Heart transplant recipient wins gold medal in Fla.


Pam AlexanderPam Alexander

By linda denicola

Staff Writer

South African surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard made medical history Dec. 3, 1967, when he completed the first human heart transplant. On Nov. 20, 1999, Pam Alexander, at the time a 22-year-old Jackson native, received a heart transplant that gave her the chance to create her own story. Last month, Alexander won a gold medal at the U.S. Transplant Games in Florida.

She won in the long jump competition, jumping 11 feet 31/4 inches. That’s not bad for a young woman who was given last rites during the summer of 1999.

The accomplished track-and-field athlete turned 25 two weeks ago. She has earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Georgian Court College, Lakewood, and is working toward a graduate degree in the same field. She competed in the World Transplant Games in Japan accompanied by her mother last year, and plans to compete in the games in Nancy, France, next year.

Alexander, who is the youngest of five sisters, said she goes to the track six days a week to train in a number of track and field events.

"When I compete in France, I will do race walking, long jump, softball throw and the 100-meter dash. I did the same events this year and came in fifth out of 12 in race walking and the softball throw," she said. "I missed competing in the 100-meter dash because it was held at the same time as the medal ceremony for the long jump. I didn’t want to miss that."

Alexander said competing in the Trans-plant Olympics is a lot of fun, but there is a serious reason for doing it.

"People don’t realize how important transplants are. Once you receive a transplant, you’re like a normal person," Alexander said. "I feel like I have a new life. I was in bad shape. I had gotten sick in the summer of ’99, but I didn’t want to go to a doctor. I was at my aunt’s house in Long Island, N.Y., and I wasn’t feeling well. She persuaded me to go to a doctor."

Alexander went to the doctor and was hospitalized immediately.

"I was originally in a hospital on Long Island. At one point I went into cardiac arrest. They transferred me to Mount Sinai in New York. In Long Island I was given last rites. I don’t remember too much be-cause I was highly medicated," she said.

She was put at the top of the list for a heart transplant.

"I only waited five days because I was in such critical condition. Many people wait for many months," she said. "People will probably think I’m crazy or something, but when I was sick I saw two angels hovering over my bed. Even though I was hooked up to so many machines, I always knew I would be OK."

Alexander said she has a totally different outlook on life.

"Nothing bothers me anymore. I go with the flow," she said.

Alexander found out about the Trans-plant Olympics during a checkup at Mount Sinai. She said she went on the Internet to see what she could learn about the U.S. Transplant Games. She found out that since the 1950s more than 175,000 transplants have been performed in the United States. Once considered miraculous, transplants have become commonplace with nearly 20,000 performed annually.

In the early 1980s, a coalition of organ transplant recipients began organizing regional athletic competitions to draw attention to the growing success of transplants. In 1990, the National Kidney Foun-dation, with the support of Novartis Phar-maceutical Corp., organized and sponsored the first U.S. Transplant Games in Indi-anapolis.

The venue shifted to Los Angeles two years later, where nearly 900 organ transplant recipients gathered for four days of competition. The 1994 games were held in Atlanta and drew nearly 1,000 transplant athletes from around the country.

Salt Lake City hosted the 1996 games where approximately 1,200 athletes from across America competed in the Olympic-style events. The 1998 games were held at Ohio State University in Columbus and drew almost 1,200 transplant athletes. More than 1,500 athletes participated at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in 2000.

Alexander was one of the 1,800 athletes who competed during the last games, also held in Florida. She said she learned that the games are held not only in the United States, but internationally every other year. The Japan games were her first international competition.

Transplant is an important tool in experimental biology. It is used to investigate endocrine gland functions, to study the interaction of cells in developing embryos, and to culture malignant tissue in cancer research.

Alexander said she is grateful for the technology that made it possible for her to live. After she receives her graduate degree in biology, she will consider doing some type of research in how medication affects heart transplant recipients.

The transplant recipient would like to remind people to think about donating their organs. The purpose of the Transplant Games is to increase awareness that transplants are successful, she said. Competi-tion is open to anyone who has received a lifesaving transplant, including heart, liver, lung, kidney, pancreas and bone marrow. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded in each sport to the top three male and female athletes in each age category.