SMC mourns loss of alumna
By NOREEN GILLESPIE
News Writer
When Kate McCloughan-Krzyzak received two new lungs last October, she got a second chance at life.
The transplant was supposed to be a last-chance treatment to ease her struggles with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disorder that affects the respiratory and digestive systems.
It was the only chance that McCloughan-Krzyzak, a member of Saint Mary's Class of 2001, had to realize her dreams of attending graduate school and continue the life she had begun with her husband, Jim, just one year earlier.
Friday, her second chance ran out, when McCloughan-Krzyzak lost her battle with the disease as her body rejected the transplant. She was 26.
The friends and family she leaves behind her will remember her as a woman who was determined, spirited, and who never, ever gave up.
"I feel like the lungs she got were not up to the quality of Kate," said Saint Mary's professor Catherine Pittman, who taught her in several psychology classes. "They didn't fight as hard as she fought."
Kate battled cystic fibrosis from childhood, and became accustomed to frequent hospital visits to clear her lungs from the thick mucous that clogged them. Medication IVs and oxygen tanks were normal parts of her life.
But Kate was the type of person who didn't want to be different from everyone else.
At Saint Mary's, she was the student who sat in her psychology classes eating saltine crackers and drinking Mountain Dew, told stories about her dog, Meko, loved a good intellectual argument and spoke her mind.
And at first glance, her classmates didn't know there was anything different about her.
"She just wanted to be a typical student and to live a typical life even though it was anything but typical," Pittman said.
"She was one of those that didn't want anyone to know she was different," said friend and psychology major Shelly Houser. "She had this disease, but she was ready to conquer the world."
She came to Saint Mary's in her sophomore year, after moving away from home to go to Franklin College. After falling ill at school, doctors recommended she undergo a lung transplant operation, a procedure that is supposed to give cystic fibrosis patients another five years of life.
But she didn't need it. After her mother nursed her back to health, she decided to try attending Saint Mary's, a college closer to her home in Granger.
While occasional hospitalization forced her to miss classes, take time off or make adjustments to her class schedule, she never wanted an exception to be made for her — and was determined to be a normal student.
"She had this great excuse of this severe, life-threatening illness, but she never used it," said Katie Sullivan, Kate's mentor in the LONI program. "I never heard her whine or complain, ever."
A psychology major with a biology minor, she insisted on turning papers in on time and taking tests the day they were administered. She was known to do schoolwork — even take final exams — in the hospital, determined not to miss a deadline.
"No matter what kind of health problems she was having, she didn't look to us to make exceptions for her," Pittman said. "She really needed them and deserved them, but she really held her self to very hard standards."
"She had a great zest for life," said Becky Stoddart, Kate's senior comprehensive adviser. "She never had an excuse, and never offered any."
But as she approached her graduation date, her health began to deteriorate. Doctors recommended she carry oxygen tanks 24 hours a day to assist her in breathing.
Determined to be the normal student she wanted to be, she kept the tanks in her car instead, using them before and after class.
With an eye on her upcoming graduation, she completed her senior comprehensive project about breast cancer awareness. A worker in a mammography center in Mishawaka, she felt strongly that younger women needed to be more aware of risks and prevention.
The project was accepted for presentation at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association Meeting in Chicago, the week before her graduation.
She wasn't able to present it. With her health deteriorating, she was hospitalized during senior week. After that visit to the hospital, she went back on the waiting list for a transplant. She was marked as a priority.
But she fought her doctors hard enough to be released from the hospital for her graduation. Draped in a black gown and honor cords, she walked across the stage and received her diploma — with a summa cum laude notation.
"Even though she felt awful, the light in her eyes was just amazing," her husband, Jim Krzyzak, said. "She was so happy."
It was close to five months before Kate received word there was a new pair of lungs available for transplant. In the meantime, that meant waiting.
Jim and Kate used an e-mail list during the wait to keep in contact with friends and family, sending updates about her condition. They also kept in close contact with Cystic-L, an internet group for friends and family of cystic fibrosis patients.
And of course, they relied on each other.
"She wouldn't have gotten through her life without him," said Lauren O'Neil, a bridesmaid in Jim and Kate's wedding. "They were completely honest with each other — it was meant to be."
The two loved outdoor activities — biking, skiing, in-line skating or walking the dog. Whether it was watching Bears games on Sunday afternoons or going to a movie, they loved spending time together.
"She did so much more than she could really do," Jim said. "Even this last year, when she was feeling bad, she'd take her oxygen off and go ride around the subdivisions on her bike with me. The times she couldn't do things I know she felt so guilty — there were times when she just had to say no."
Friends and family poured in with their support while they waited as well. Jim's mother, Bonnie, began a "blue ribbon campaign" which asked friends and family to tie a blue ribbon around a tree in their yards until Kate received a transplant and came home from the hospital.
Finally, on Oct. 30, the call came: there was a new set of lungs available for Kate.
At 3 a.m. the next day, doctors began the seven-and-a-half hour operation. She came through the surgery beautifully, and it looked like there wouldn't be complications.
There was just one nagging problem: she wasn't ready to come off the machine that was helping her breathe.
"They couldn't seem to get her off it, and they didn't know why," Jim said. "We just thought, knowing Kate, she'd fly right out of that."
She didn't. Doctors performed tests a few days later, and discovered a blood clot had developed in her right lung. While her medical statistics improved briefly, doctors later found that the right upper lobe of the lung had died as a result. They had to perform another surgery to remove it.
For the next several weeks, Kate battled infection after infection, until doctors couldn't find medicine to treat her.
"There are no antibiotics known to man that could fight it," Jim said. "Her body just couldn't handle it."
Wednesday, doctors told Kate's family a decision had to be made about whether to continue her life on life support. Her living will indicated she wouldn't want to continue life by extraordinary means.
At her bedside Friday during her final hours of life, Jim wrote two poems to her, the final two in a collection he had written throughout their relationship. "How am I supposed to continue without you by my side?" he wrote. "Hold on to the strength you have given me, but I'm afraid that a part of me has died."
At 12:15 p.m. Friday, Kate finally ended her battle with the disease when her family made the decision to remove her from life support.
"She never wanted to be a vegetable," O'Neil said. "She would have never wanted people to sit around crying. Kate wanted to live."
u Visitation services for Kate McCloughan-Krzyzak will be today at Bubb's Funeral Chapel, 3910 N. Main Street in Mishawaka from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. Her funeral service will be Tuesday at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 17195 Cleveland Road, South Bend. Donations can be made in her name to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or the National Transplant Assistance Fund.
All News Stories for Monday, January 28, 2002
