LUMBERTON — Catherine Leigh Gold is facing the greatest battle of her young life.
The Lumberton native is awaiting transplant surgery. For her, one healthy organ is simply not enough. Her illness demands five organs, and if the transplant is successful the 26-year-old soon can seize a normal life that she has never fully enjoyed.
Catherine, the youngest daughter of Darlene and Joseph Gold, grew up in Lumberton. But for perhaps the next year her home will be an apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. Catherine, who is suffering from intestinal failure, is on the Cleveland Clinic Transplant Center wait list. She needs an intestine, stomach, duodenum, pancreas and liver.
At 5 weeks old, Catherine was diagnosed with Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction, an extremely rare disease. The gastrointestinal disorder is characterized by vomiting, abdominal distention, pain and weight loss. Catherine has relied on an intravenous formula received through a catheter connected to a vein in her heart. She must be connected to the IV for eight to 10 hours a day.
Sitting down and enjoying a normal meal is basically impossible. Her digestive system lacks the ability to pass food through the intestinal tract. She must rely on nightly infusions of nutrition to survive. The routine is as natural to her as brushing her teeth.
Her life has been a series of challenges each and every day. She tackles each challenge with unrelenting determination.
“Catherine would have long stretches where she would do really well,” said her mother, Darlene. “There were a lot of times she would feel awful; vomit, feel extremely fatigued. No one can really know except Catherine how this condition affected her every day.”
“Catherine is just not a person you say ‘no’ to,” said her older sister, Lindsay Gold Oatis, during a recent telephone conversation. “I remember when we were little Catherine had a homework assignment where she had to write an acrostic poem – a poem where each letter of each line spells out a word — using the letters in her name. She vertically spelled out C-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E on a piece of construction paper. Then she began to write.
“After validating the spelling with our mom and dad, she wrote ‘C is for Courageous’ for the first letter. Then she continued writing clever words or phrases for each letter in her name. For the final letter, she ended with ‘E is for Eats Chicken.’ She’s always had a tremendous love of food for someone who can’t digest it. She is still the same funny, smart, and determined girl today. And her determination is the reason she is in Cleveland now seizing the opportunity for a transplant.”
Catherine graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013 after only three and a half years of study.
“It’s hard to remember all the times in and out of hospital,” Darlene said. “Sometimes they were brief stays to rule out infections in her central line. Sometimes they were longer stays. When she was in college at UNC she was hospitalized for 10 days due to her bowel twisting 360 degrees.”
Catherine later attended the Wake Forest School of Medicine. During her studies, Catherine suffered an infection, which is one of the biggest risks of this type of illness. She was admitted to an intensive care unit in December. Despite the interruption, Catherine graduated in 2017, a licensed physician assistant and soon went to work in Winston-Salem.
In July, Catherine was admitted to ICU a second time under similar circumstances.
Catherine had been in regular contact with the Transplant Center throughout the fall. Thoughts of transplants earlier in her life had certainly been considered. But medical science just wasn’t ready to tackle all of Catherine’s needs.
The Transplant Center contacted Catherine on Nov. 19 to invite her to Cleveland for an initial consultation. The team determined she was a viable candidate for transplant. In January, Catherine returned to Cleveland for two weeks of intensive testing. On March 8, she was approved and placed on the transplant list.
She is one of 114,000 people in the United States on a waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant, according to the Donate Life Foundation, a list that grows by one every 10 minutes. The foundation urges individuals to register to become an organ, eye, and tissue donor during April, which is Donate A Life month.
“When going into this, I always knew it involved moving to Cleveland, so getting the call meant the time had finally come to get the process started,” Catherine said. “In the back of my mind I felt like something was going to prevent this from happening. Having that call and finally being here made the gravity of my position very real.”
Catherine and her family located an apartment just outside of Cleveland. The family business of 40 years was closed so they could more easily make the trips back and forth.
“When I was doing more research regarding the intestinal transplant process I, of course, wanted to be at a facility that had the greatest expertise and experience,” Catherine said. “During that time one name kept reappearing. That was Dr. Kareem Abu-Elmagd, who I met in November during our initial consultation regarding transplant.
“He is one of the pioneers of multivisceral transplant. He has been involved in more than 20 percent of all intestinal transplants performed worldwide. So long story short he is the one you want in your arena.”
Despite her apprehension, Catherine said she realized without a doubt she was making the best decision.
“At the end of our first meeting when it was clear that I was feeling overwhelmed, he kissed the top the top of my head and assured me that I came first and my quality of life was their top priority.
“The intestinal transplant team in general is wonderful. It is composed of nurse coordinators, social workers, transplant surgeons, PAs, and other specialized medical personnel. I realize my life has never been or never will be normal, but these dedicated individuals are giving me a chance to not only live but to have the possibility at a better quality of life.”
Her mom is anxious for the journey to reach the hope-for destination.
“I think that our family wants everyone to know that that what is happening right now, her being listed for a transplant and hopefully a recipient soon, is what we have hoped and prayed for her whole life,” Darlene said. “The road getting to this point has been very bumpy but it has made all of us the people we are today. She has impacted every one of us. I told her when this first came up in November and we met with the transplant team in Cleveland, ‘Catherine this your time, God is all over this.’”
Friends and family are raising funds for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to assist Catherine with expenses associated with the transplant. The goal is $50,000. More than $9,300 has been raised. The direct link to donate is https://helphopelive.org/campaign/15567/. The donation is tax-deductible. Updates are available and there is a place to leave a message. For more information, call Help Hope Live at 800-642-8399.