The first person West of the Mississippi to receive a simultaneous heart-liver transplant, Christine Galan became, at age 36, a pioneer of medical technology. On October 24, 1998, Christine was within hours of death when the life-saving telephone call came. After an eight-month wait, a donor had been found for her, culminating an eighteen-year battle with a perilous illness. Now fully recovered, and a fit, rosy picture of health, Christine has made it her life’s mission to educate the public about organ donor awareness.

Christine's Story

Christine was born and spent most of her childhood in Kingston, Jamaica. She moved to San Diego with her family in 1976. In 1980, while a high school senior at the Bishop’s School in La Jolla, Calif., she began experiencing severe anemia and had to have her spleen and gallbladder removed. Seven years later she was diagnosed with lupus, a disease of the immune system that attacked her heart, causing congestive heart failure.

Though she lived daily with the discomfort and debilitating effects of her illness, Christine made up her mind to live life to its fullest. In 1984, she graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in Liberal Arts. In 1987 she developed lupus that attacked her heart, causing congestive heart failure. After trying various careers, she moved to New York in 1990 to open the East Coast headquarters of her family-owned advertising specialty company.

A year after moving to New York she became involved with the Starlight Children’s Foundation NY, NJ, CT. Her interest in Starlight evolved from her personal feelings, as she always had wanted to help children who were faced with similar, life-threatening health problems. Starlight’s mission is to brighten the lives of critically, chronically and terminally ill children by granting them their most desired “wish,” and Christine made it her goal to grant as many wishes as possible.

However, In March 1997 she developed stones and strictures in the bile ducts of her liver, causing chronic liver failure and infection. Surgery to remove the stones proved unsuccessful and it weakened her heart, and it became evident that she would need a double transplant. In December 1997, with her health failing, she moved back from New York to her parent’s home in San Diego. Throughout all these trials and tribulations, she managed to grant 23 wishes in 1997, the most among all Starlight volunteers.

In February 1998 she was placed on the transplant waiting list at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. After eight months, she was admitted to an intensive care unit and stayed there for 11 weeks. During the twelfth week, with her organs failing and her death imminent, a donor heart and liver became available, and she was immediately transplanted. She made a miraculous post-operative recovery, which evoked the attention of the medical community and media. She was released from the hospital only eighteen days after the 12-hour operation, and the day after her release she was back to work and on the treadmill for 20 minutes.

Christine returned to New York shortly after her surgery, and she is currently the most successful of eleven heart-liver recipients whose progress she has tracked. She attributes her recovery to a strong, positive state of mind, tremendous support of family and friends and staying as physically fit as possible. She remains very active with Starlight, and since 1991 she has granted more than 250 wishes, from arranging shopping sprees and trips to Disney World to an outing with Cindy Crawford at Planet Hollywood, a visit to the set of “Sabrina” with Harrison Ford, and to the set of “Spin City” to meet Michael J. Fox. In November 2001, Christine received the International Volunteer of the Year award for her work with Starlight.

In November 2001, Christine was the first person with a heart and liver transplant to complete the New York City Marathon, increasing awareness for organ and tissue donation. Christine continues to educate society as much as possible on the importance of organ and tissue donation by volunteering and being a team leader covering the Manhattan area with the New York Organ Donor Network. She believes that people are not aware that there is an enormous “waiting list” for organ donors, and that many people die because potential donors and their families are not educated about the great need for donors and the tremendous fulfillment which the “gift of life” can bring.

Now fully recovered, and a fit, rosy picture of health, Christine has made it her life’s mission to educate the public about organ donor awareness. She has become involved with numerous donor organizations, and hopes to spawn new organizations as the technology and the legal issues relating to organ transplantation evolve and change. She has become an avid public speaker, having spoken in schools and to varied groups on the importance of organ and tissue donation awareness.