Forty years ago, in a hospital in Cambridge, England, 10-year-old Tracy Holmes looked down at her unscarred stomach for the last time. Far from her Southland home, she was moments away from the first of two liver transplants that would save her life.
“Now I look at it and it has been battered a little bit because it’s had three surgeries, but that’s 40 years of my life, shares Tracy, now 51.
40 years of celebrations
As she celebrates four decades since she became New Zealand’s first successful liver transplant recipient, Tracy is reflecting on a remarkable life.
“To get here is the most massive achievement… it’s surreal,” she says. “I don’t think at the time I ever thought I would live for 40 more years.”
Born in Tuatapere in 1975 to Ngaire and Gary Holmes, Tracy developed jaundice within days. At 18 months old, she was diagnosed with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a rare genetic condition carried unknowingly by both her parents, which increased her risk of lung and liver damage. Medical professionals told her family there was no cure and warned them Tracy might not live to see two years old.
A childhood spent in hospital
Her childhood was punctuated by hospital visits and procedures. By the age of eight, she was undergoing a general anaesthetic every six weeks to treat the enlarged veins in her oesophagus, a complication of her condition.
“I used to just topple myself onto the bed and go, ‘Oh, yeah, another anaesthetic,’” recalls Tracy.
Then in October 1984, her parents’ worst nightmare became terrifyingly real when Tracy came home from school unwell and started vomiting blood. She was haemorrhaging. On the 50-minute drive to hospital, nine-year-old Tracy asked, “Mum, am I going to die?”
Surgery saved her life, but Tracy’s symptoms were steadily worsening and time was running out. One year later, her specialist contacted a leading surgeon in the UK and learned she was a candidate for a transplant. Getting Tracy there became a community mission, with the local Lions Club raising more than $85,000.
Her first donor liver
In Cambridge, Tracy received her first donor liver. Within three weeks of returning home, however, her body began rejecting it. Doctors in New Zealand tried to save the transplant, but when those efforts failed, she was sent back to England and placed on the waiting list for another donor liver.
Incredibly, three days later a match was found – and this time it was a successful transplant.
“I was this frail, yellow little thing,” she shares.
“But as soon as I got my liver, my whole body started to change.”
Five years later, she shared her story with Woman’s Weekly for the first time.
Living life to the full
It’s not lost on Tracy how fortunate she has been. Apart from one maintenance surgery and taking ongoing immunosuppressant medication, she has lived a remarkably normal life. Working for Southern Cross Health Insurance for 25 years, she is an avid All Blacks fan, an active member of the musical theatre community and has travelled extensively. “I love living life,” she smiles.
Two years ago, Tracy returned to the UK to reconnect with some of the people who were a part of her extraordinary journey.
The surgeon she admired so much had died shortly before her visit, but Tracy was able to spend Christmas with the receptionist from her hospital ward, visit
the former senior charge nurse who cared for her, and reconnect with the couple she and her mum had stayed with. To this day, Tracy considers them all her “English family”.
Thank You Day
With Thank You Day coming up at the end of the month, Tracy’s thoughts have been on everyone who helped save her life. Organ Donation NZ organises the annual appreciation day to acknowledge donors, their whānau, and those who help make organ and tissue donation possible.
“I was given the gift of life and I will be forever thankful to my donor,” says Tracy. “Thank you will never be enough, but that’s why I choose to live my life to the fullest.
“I think about all the people who helped get me here, the most amazing, talented surgeon… plus all the people who raised the money to get me to the UK. They kept me alive and I would not be here without them.”
Sadly, her mum Ngaire, who was by her side every step of the way, passed away last year and Tracy admits she had mixed feelings about celebrating her 40th transplant anniversary without her.
“But I know Mum would want me to celebrate,” she shares. “There’s still plenty of years left in this girl and I just want people to see that this is what your life can be – this is what donating your organs can do.”
Thank You Day is November 27. To find out about organ and tissue donation or becoming a donor, visit organdonation.govt.nz
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