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Former area teacher stresses importance of organ donation |
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Written by Sherri Gallant
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Sunday, 31 January 2010 |
A former southern Alberta teacher is still waiting for chemotherapy to improve his condition enough to allow him to become a candidate for a heart transplant.
Bruce Stewart, who now lives in Kelowna, has been in Vancouver for months being treated for a rare disease called amyloidosis. He and his wife Liz are staying in a suite across from St. Paul’s hospital in Vancouver where he was admitted for several weeks. Recently he was discharged, but must come in each morning for checkups.
“I’m expecting a call from the doctor,” said Liz in a phone interview. “What they want to do is an oral chemo for 21 days. I was expecting that we’d have heard by now about the chemo, but they have to re-do one of the tests. So I don’t think we’ll hear much until next week.”
Stewart taught at Barons and Huntsville schools and at John Davidson in Coaldale. His ordeal has prompted him to go public in hopes his friends and others who learn about his illness will understand the importance of signing organ-donor cards.
Amyloidosis occurs when amyloid proteins — produced in the bone marrow — build up in the organs. In Stewart’s case, the proteins have attacked his heart, thickening the tissue and making it necessary to implant a device called LVAD (left ventricular assist device). The LVAD takes over the heart's duties, enabling it to rest — sometimes so it can heal itself, and other times while awaiting transplant.
The disease can also affect kidneys, liver, spleen, nervous system and gastrointestinal tract. About 3,000 people are diagnosed each year in North America.
Stewart’s struggling heart isn’t a candidate for transplant as long as his amyloid levels are high, so he’s been taking chemotherapy designed to get rid of the built-up proteins.
“He started at a level of eight, and now he’s down to five,” said Liz. “They want him to be at four before they decide about the transplant.”
Stewart's own stem cells are being harvested and stored, to be used for a bone-marrow transplant after he gets a new heart.
“We go in every morning for his weigh-in,” said Liz. “They want to keep a very close eye on him. But it’s all good.”
Stewart has defied the odds the doctors gave him last summer, when he was told he had days — weeks at the most — to live.
The Stewart family (Bruce is one of six kids) came to Lethbridge in 1971, when he was in high school. He graduated from LCI and got his education degree from the University of Lethbridge. His dad Ray taught there in the faculty of education and his mom, Chris, wrote for the Lethbridge Herald. Stewart married Liz Peacock, a Picture Butte girl, and the couple had four children — three born here and one on Vancouver Island.
Stewart has always been a popular teacher and principal, as evidenced now by the number of former students who have corresponded and come to visit, from as far away as Salt Spring Island and Calgary.
Friends can keep track of his progress by reading Liz’s weblog at www.caringbridge.org/visit/brucestewart Get well wishes can be expressed on the site, as well.
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