Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
People from several communities came together in Marengo last weekend to help raise money for a man who is waiting for a heart transplant.
Darren Cowie, a farmer in the Marengo area, was born with a congenital heart defect known as transposition of the greater artery. Cowie is on a list of people waiting for a transplant and a phone call could come at any time if a matching donor heart becomes available.
The Cowie family (back row left to right) Fontana and Cole German and (front row) Darren, Abby, 11, and Tanya Cowie. They’re waiting for a call for Darren to have a heart transplant. A fundraiser was held for the family on March 10 at the Marengo Community Hall, where the photo was taken. Fontana and Cole, along with Hayley German (not in photo) are Tanya’s children from a previous marriage, but they are very close with Darren.
Several friends and family came together to organize a fundraiser to help Cowie and his family with the extraordinary expenses they face from taking trips to Edmonton, medications and other expenses. The fundraiser took place on March 10 at the Marengo Community Hall.
A total of 230 tickets were sold for the steak supper, according to an organizer, and more people attended the event later in the evening for the entertainment. A silent auction and a raffle helped to raise money at the event.
After the supper and a brief program, Mitch Larock and the 4:54 Band hit the stage to perform for the rest of the event. Organizers obtained information on the Saskatchewan Transplant Program and brochures were placed on every table in the hall. The organizers also wanted to raise awareness about the importance of becoming an organ donor.
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J.P. Baril, the master of ceremonies for the evening, helped to keep things moving along. Baril said it was nice to see the people out supporting the family and donating to the cause, and he reminded people that they were there to support the Cowie family. Darren’s wife Tanya also spoke during the program.
People were told the congenital heart defect was discovered when Darren was only 10 days old. Doctors performed a surgery to correct the condition, and he went 35 years without further complications. Darren, now 37, had another surgery at 35 years old.
Tanya said the surgery her husband had when he was 10 years old has failed. Darren went to see a cardiologist two and a half years ago, and he was told he is experiencing heart failure and he needed to go to see a specialist in Edmonton.
Darren was told he needed to have a heart transplant, so he was put on the list to get a donor heart. However, she said he needed to go through testing and he needed to lose weight. A heavier person is at a higher risk of not getting a healthy heart or not getting a heart at all.
She noted that Darren has lost more than 70 pounds to give himself a better chance to get a heart and a better chance for the procedure to be successful. This past January he moved up the list from a status one to a status three to make him a higher priority to get a heart. Tanya said it is amazing to get moved up the priority list.
With transposition of the greater artery, people could be fine one day and battling heart failure at a moment’s notice. Tanya said if Darren’s heart fails before a donor heart becomes available, he would have to endure another surgery.
The surgery would involve Darren being permanently hooked up to a machine that would simulate his heart’s functions. There would be a long period of recovery for his surgeries and the family would incur several expenses. She said after the transplant, one of the medications he will have to take costs $1,500 a month, so the family appreciates all of the support from family, friends and other supporters.
“We are extremely grateful for what everybody has done,” Tanya said, recognizing that the support is amazing because the family has had a lot of bad and good days given the uncertainty it faces down the road. “It’s really overwhelming.”
Tanya thanked the crowd before Darren took the microphone to wrap up the program with his own heart-felt message of thanks. In an interview, Darren said his heart is backwards in a way from most other people’s hearts. He explained that everyone’s heart has two chambers.
He said the larger chamber pumps blood throughout the body while blood enters the heart through the smaller chamber. He said his heart functions are reversed, so the smaller chamber is pumping the blood and it is too much for the heart.
Darren said he turned blue in his crib when he was 10 days old, so he was taken to a hospital where they discovered the condition. He said doctors performed what is called the Mustard Procedure, a procedure that is no longer performed, to redirect the blood to the proper side of his heart. The procedure worked until he was 35 years old.
“I noticed a build up of fluids in my body, and then I went to the doctor,” he said, noting that the discovery has meant several life changes. “That’s when they came to the conclusion that I was going through heart failure and that I was going to need a new heart.”
He said he could get a call for a transplant surgery at any time, and then he would have to make it to Edmonton within a certain amount of time. He could get an air ambulance from any location in Saskatchewan, but timing is everything. He added that a heart recipients has to be within 40 pounds of the donor.
Katherine Albertson, who helped to organize the fundraiser with a core group of family members and friends, said the event went really well and the organizers are pleased. She said the silent auction did really well and while a total was not finalized, the event was a financial success.
All of the food was donated and the event was supported by several other donations such as the silent auction items. Albertson thanked everyone for their support and she said the event also helped to raise awareness for organ donation.
“It brought a lot of discussion about organ donation,” she added, recognizing it is difficult for people to talk about becoming an organ donor because it involves the idea of death and she would like to encourage people to have the discussion with their families.
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