Tri-Valley native, double-lung transplant recipient to appear in Rose Parade today

Clare Dowling, a Tri-Valley native and dual-lung transplant recipient, is set to appear in the 126th annual Rose Parade this morning in Pasadena, standing as a symbol of the lives that can be saved by organ donation.

Dowling, currently a senior at UC Santa Barbara, will ride on the “Never Ending Story” float of Donate Life California, a statewide nonprofit organization responsible for facilitating the organ, eye and tissue registry.

“It is really an honor to be chosen to be on the Donate Life float,” Dowling, 23, said. “I had seen it in the past and felt that it was a beautiful way to honor donors and their families because they are the true heroes in this. Without them, I would not be here, so I’m forever thankful.”

“Inspiring stories” is the theme for the upcoming Rose Parade and the Never Ending Story float will include 60 butterflies — which represent how many lives can be saved by one deceased donor — emerging from an open book.

A Danville native whose family now lives in Livermore, Dowling is alive today because of receiving a successful double-lung transplant in 2010 that was required after she was diagnosed with a rare lung disease as a college freshman.

Dowling will be one of 30 transplant recipients riding atop the Donate Life California float seated among a garden of roses dedicated to deceased donors. Walking alongside the float will be 12 registered organ donors.

One Legacy, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that focuses on organ and tissue recovery, is sponsoring Dowling’s participation in Pasaena’s annual parade welcoming the new year.

“I’m just one of thousands of organ recipients, and each person has their own unique story and connection to their donor,” Dowling said. “But it will be a wonderful moment to dedicate a rose to my donor and I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to do that and to represent One Legacy.”

Dowling was fresh off graduating from Danville’s Monte Vista High School and in the midst of her first semester of classes at CSU Chico in 2009 when she contracted pneumonia and mononucleosis simultaneously. She went home to Danville just before the start of winter vacation to recover from the illnesses, she said.

Upon her return to college after recuperating, Dowling began to experience exhaustion while walking to and from classes.

“I would get lightheaded, I had to take breaks in the middle of walking to my dorm after class and I couldn’t get up stairs,” she said.

Dowling thought her body was weak from recently being sick, but her condition did not get better as time went on. She said she became concerned and visited her doctor, who discovered her oxygen levels were low.

She was later sent to a lung specialist, who ruled out asthma, allergies and exposure to poor air quality as causes of Dowling’s symptoms and ultimately diagnosed her with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease.

PVOD is characterized by the narrowing of the pulmonary veins by sometimes loose, or more dense and collagen-rich, fibrous tissue inside of the pulmonary veins, according to ValleyCare Health System pulmonologist Dr. Chirag Pandya, who practices in Pleasanton and Livermore.

“The prognosis in PVOD is grim,” Pandya said, speaking about the condition in general, as he was not the doctor who treated Dowling. “Most patients have a rapidly progressive course with most reported patients dying within two years of diagnosis without proper treatment.”

According to Pandya, medical treatments for pulmonary hypertension can help keep the lungs functioning for some time, but lung transplantation is the only treatment capable of significantly prolonging and improving the lives of patients with PVOD.

In Dowling’s case, shortly after the initial diagnosis, she was given a portable oxygen tank and placed on the national transplant waiting list.

“After my diagnosis and finding out I would need a transplant, I just tried to stay positive and make the best of it,” she said. “My dad and I went to Disneyland, and I started taking a guitar class just to have something to do with my time and keep my mind off of everything.”

Dowling’s health started to decline during the summer of 2010, and she began to faint regularly.

One fainting incident occurred while she was climbing stairs at her family’s Danville home. Her parents immediately took her to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek where she was admitted for a few days before being transported to UC San Francisco Medical Center.

While at UCSF, Dowling passed out in the shower and was transferred to the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) as a result. During her time in ICU, she was elevated on the transplant waiting list due to drastic need.

Dowling was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine which provided cardiac and respiratory support to keep her lungs functioning until transplant. She was bedridden and dependent on the machine for 31 days, she said.

Hospital staff searched for suitable organs based on Dowling’s size, blood type and distance from the potential donor. A donor match was eventually identified, and on Aug. 26, 2010, Dowling underwent a double-lung transplant.

“I thought getting a transplant was going to be a lot easier than it actually was,” she said. “My recovery was very challenging and scary. It felt weird with someone else’s lungs inside of me. I had to re-learn how to breathe and it almost felt like I was suffocating.”

Dowling’s recovery process also included physical therapy to regain the use of her legs. She suffered severe nerve damage due, in part, to poor blood circulation from lying in one position for an extended period of time while bedridden, she said. She was able to walk again about nine months post transplant.

Once Dowling was in a healthy condition after recovery, she went back to one of her favorite childhood activities — riding horses. She also volunteered at a Livermore-based therapeutic horseback riding facility called Hoofprints on the Heart.

“Riding and helping out at Hoofprints on the Heart really boosted my confidence and gave me something to look forward to,” Dowling said. “There was a family vibe there and in that moment, I wasn’t thinking about my disability and the difficulties I was experiencing.”

Dowling and her family also became involved with the California Transplant Donor Network (CTDN), a Donate Life organization that coordinates organ and tissue recovery and distribution in Northern California. She became a “Donate Life ambassador,” someone with a connection or belief in the cause to help educate others about the need for organ donation.

Kidney and liver are the two organs most commonly needed, according to Tony Borders, communications manager for CTDN.

Statewide, about 19,500 people are on the waiting list for kidneys and approximately 75% have been waiting between one and five years, according to Borders.

For liver donations, about 2,015 are on the waiting list and about 67% have been waiting within the same time span. One in five people on the national transplant waiting list lives in California, according to Donate Life California.

Dowling, who enrolled at UC Santa Barbara in 2013, has spoken to students, hospitals and other citizen groups about her experiences as well as telling her story in public service announcements for the organization.

“It’s important to raise awareness and honor donors. With every breath I take, that represents someone who has saved my life and that makes them and their families heroes,” Dowling said.

More than 11 million Californians are registered organ, eye and tissue donors, according to Donate Life California. In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 2399 into law which allows organ registries to sign people up electronically to become donors by scanning their state identification card into a smartphone app.

The Donate Life California float is among 39 to be featured in the Rose Parade, set to broadcast live on New Year’s Day at 8 a.m. For more information, check local television listings or visit www.tournamentofroses.com.

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