It was two years ago that they received “the call.”

It was a call they had been waiting on for six months and it was a call that could possibly mean another shot at life for local resident Lisa Swafford.

At the age of 11, Lisa was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. For the 25 years following that diagnosis, Swafford’s life was defined and constrained by diabetes.

But since that call in June 2008, she has undergone a successful double organ transplant, and Swafford is a new woman with an entirely new outlook on life, trying to create a new self-definition.

When Swafford arrived as a ninth grader at Georgia-Cumberland Academy in the fall of 1987, few knew of her health problems. She wore her medical alert bracelet and from time to time, a classmate would ask what that was all about.

But for the most part, Swafford quietly went about her days as a student, putting on a smile with her clothes every morning and trying to hide how sick she really was. She graduated from GCA with honors in 1991 and went on to college at Southern Adventist University, graduating in 1996 with a degree in social work.

Looking back now, with time and maturity to provide clarity, Swafford realizes that she didn’t take very good care of herself during her high school and college years. It was that neglect of her health that eventually led to the complications she would experience later in life - complications that would very nearly take her life.

Following the completion of her Master of Social Work at Walla Walla College, Swafford returned to the southeast and began working as a social worker in a long-term care facility. Then the bottom started to fall out of her life.

“In July of 2000, I started losing my vision and had to quit working. I was devastated! I thought my life was over,” Swafford said. Now, she was legally blind and dependent on her parents and her health problems continued to escalate.

Soon after this time Swafford was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a complication of diabetes that leads to intense gastro-intestinal problems and pain. She was in and out of the hospital many times between 2002 and 2004 and finally received a gastric pacemaker, which brought some relief from the pain and problems she had been having.

In 2004, Swafford’s kidneys began to fail. She was diagnosed with nephropathy (chronic kidney disease) and within a couple of years, she was on dialysis. Add to the mix the sadness and stress brought about by Swafford’s mother Evelyn’s battle with cancer, followed by her death in 2006.

In January 2007, the decision was made to begin the task of getting Swafford on a transplant list. Her body just wasn’t coping well with all the complications of her diabetes and it was time to look for new solutions. She needed a kidney and a pancreas.

Her kidneys were shutting down, her vision was nearly gone, and her gastrointestinal system was not functioning properly. She spent 90 percent of her time sleeping.

Getting on a transplant list is an arduous process. Medical and mental health professionals must determine if the patient is a good transplant candidate. Is the person psychologically healthy? Do they have the emotional resources to do well as a transplant recipient? Do they have a good support system? What is the overall health of the individual? Do they have the financial resources to pay the staggering medical bills that will result from a transplant?

And then there is the challenge of finding an organ donor who will be a suitable match for the potential recipient.

It took an entire year for Swafford to be approved for the double organ transplant she so desperately needed. In January of 2008, when Swafford was finally placed on the transplant list, she was told that the average wait time was nine months to two years. It was only six months later that the Swaffords received The Call. On June 7, 2008 Emory University Hospital called to let them know that they had a match for a kidney and pancreas.

As she lay on the gurney, prepped and ready for her transplant surgery, Swafford remembers being at complete peace. “I told my dad that I was ready to die and that I felt completely safe in God’s hands. I had always been very anxious before previous surgeries. Not this time,” she said.

Two surgeons would perform the transplants – one for each organ. As the hours passed, John Swafford prayed. He knew the transplant surgery was his daughter’s only hope. But there were so many risks involved. Frankly, he hadn’t even been sure that she would live long enough to get a shot at a transplant, let alone survive the surgery. But even in the midst of this very frightening time Swafford’s confidence re-ignited his fragile hope.

“I so wished Evelyn could have been there by our side. But the support we received from family, friends, our church and the Georgia-Cumberland Conference folks was beyond belief. Even though we didn’t know what was around the corner, we knew everyone was praying. The Emory medical staff told us they had never seen such an incredible support system.”

Five hours later Swafford was out of surgery. Her father was told that the surgery was successful and that, to the astonishment of the surgeons, the transplanted organs had started working immediately. (It often takes up to 12 hours for organs to begin functioning properly.)

Now, as she celebrates the two-year anniversary of her transplant surgery, Swafford has a new lease on life. Her passion is to share her story with others, encouraging organ donations and doing what she can to spread the word about diabetes in children.

This past May, she rode behind her father on a tandem bicycle in the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure to help raise money for diabetes research and education. Two years ago it would have been hard for either Swafford or her dad to hope for anything close to this kind of rebirth.

Swafford said she is thankful to God for her second chance at life. This healthy 38-year-old isn’t going to be held back by illness any longer.