. It was inflaming her lung’s small airways leading to a rare condition known as obliterative bronchiolitis.
Her lung function had dropped to just 29 percent and a transplant, doctors told her, was the only option.
Cross says she was stunned by the news.
“I think the big thing was I didn’t tell a lot of people. I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me or anything like that. I just wanted to carry on and be a normal person.”
But as her breathing worsened, hiding it became harder, she says.
“I guess the next two years after, I was told that it was a real rollercoaster of emotions and appointments in Auckland, a lot of travelling every three months, lots of tests to make sure that you were still at that level, that they could transplant you when a match came.”
The pair of donor lungs powering Kath Cross Nine To Noon
Kath Cross celebrated her first birthday after her lungs transplant surgery at Arthur’s Pass.
Supplied / Kath Cross
After about 14 months came the day she was put on the “active” waiting list. At any moment, the phone could ring, and she would have to rush to Auckland City Hospital to have an eight-hour operation.
“You’re sort of on edge initially … It’s a little bit like when you’re waiting for your baby to arrive and you don’t know when it’s going to happen, but it could happen any time.”
Cross didn’t even tell her daughters when the late-night surgery call came until the very last moment — there’s always a chance of discovering compatibility issues right before the operation.
The next thing she remembers is waking up three days later.
“I saw my husband and then I knew that I was going to be okay and I wanted to let my girls know.
“It was a bit hard talking because I’d only just had the breathing tube taken out, but I just wanted to make sure that they were okay.”
Kath Cross puts up a pin with her transplant number on a map before leaving the Hearty Towers rehab centre in Greenlane, Auckland.
Supplied / Kath Cross
After two weeks in hospital, Cross spent five weeks in rehabilitation at Hearty Towers in Greenlane. That’s where she met Jan — another transplant patient and a fellow cycling lover. The two promised they’d ride together once they were well enough.
Physios had to tell Cross to slow down – but the thought of riding with her friends pushed her.
As soon as she returned home to Rotorua, she hopped back on her bike. Five kilometres had her smiling non-stop, she says.
“I was so excited about [riding] because I hadn’t been able to ride for over two years. I couldn’t even pedal my bike [before the surgery]. I just didn’t have enough breath. So I was so excited that it just felt so normal.”
But Jan suffered complications and couldn’t fulfil her promise. She died this year.
Cross has since ridden with Jan’s family and will be taking part in Taupō’s 30km Huka Teaser event on 29 November in her honour.
“I just want to be able to do something that she’s not able to do anymore in her memory.”
While training for Taupō, she’s also raising funds for the Asthma Foundation and spreading the word about organ donation.
Kath Cross says she didn’t want her daughters to worry so didn’t tell them about the operation until it was fully confirmed.
Supplied / Kath Cross
Although Cross says she initially was trying to hide her condition, she’d shout her story from the rooftops now.
“I know that for every celebration and milestone that I have, [the lung transplant donor’s family are] having the opposite – they’re having to go through that grief.
“I just hope that I’m making them proud with using them to the best that I can and making the most of whatever life I have left and to raise awareness that there’s these selfless people out there that are amazing and donating their family’s organs to save, I think you can save up to 10 people’s lives from one person.”
Now 52, Cross feels she’s been given a future she wasn’t sure she’d see.
“I feel that I’m still quite young. My children are in their early 20s. I’ve got so much more I want to do, and I just am so thankful to the family on that decision on that day that has given me that second chance to be able to do all of the things I’m doing now.”
The pair of donor lungs powering Kath Cross Nine To Noon