Philip Thrush, MD

Lurie Children’s
transplant team

 

This is a lot of people.

I’m not surprised. At all.

My name is Phil Thrush. I'm one of the transplant cardiologists at Lurie.

I knew this would be huge, but knowing Colleen, I’m not surprised by this one bit.

I got to know Colleen for the first time in the summer of 2012. I had just finished my cardiology training in Columbus, and I came from a program that did not do a lot of heart transplants. I was thrust into the Lurie Children's transplant program, feeling way over my head because it was fast paced. And along comes Colleen getting admitted because she has coronary disease after her first transplant. It's an unfortunate example of you do everything right and sometimes these things still happen. My first impression of Colleen--and I think we all have these first impressions that last with us—is Colleen’s eyes. A lot of what we’ve heard from everyone so far is portrayed in those big, caring, passionate eyes. When I think about her, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. I think those eyes exemplify everything that everyone just said so far.

So, Colleen’s in the hospital, and she's in this awesome corner room, and she's waiting. I can give a glimpse into a part of Colleen’s life that a lot of people don't get a glimpse into is how do you deal with that adversity of waiting in the hospital. It's all it is--is waiting, unfortunately. We try to find ways to pass time. We hear over and over from people, and in talking to people before all of this, is that everything with Colleen was more about everyone else than about her. It was true while she waited for her second transplant--there's no doubt. What can she do to help the nurses? I mean the number of times I walked into her room while she’s doing arts and crafts to make birthday signs for people. It was unbelievable. What can she do for the kids down the hall to cheer them up? Maybe the most selfless thing is she was more worried about her family and the transplant than herself. I’m not surprised in the least about that.

She inspired me to be even more immature than I already am. I am the most immature cardiologist in our entire country. She apparently found it amusing to shoot me with syringes full of saline. So much so that I had to make her a certificate. She is the sharpshooter—the fastest syringe on 15.

So I told her, when she was still waiting on the transplant, that I was going to get my payback. I also told her I was going to take totally immature pictures with her, which is where the mustache on the finger comes from. She couldn’t have been more surprised. I lost every other day, so this was my chance.

She also made us better people. Her passion about everything while she was in the hospital. She was bound and determined. She was going to keep up with her college work, and she wasn't going to get behind and doing that on top everything else.

Then even after her transplant, it wasn’t completely smooth sailing. She had this chest tube that lasted, seemed like, forever. I remember we finally made the decision to take it out, but we had to put it back in the very next day. I've never seen Colleen get upset ever—oh, she was upset! And it lasted for five minutes and then it was back to Colleen. Which again, doesn’t surprise anyone. Even after being out of the hospital, you’d see her in the hallway. And even after she transitioned over to Northwestern, I'd be running over there and I'd run into her, and she was always more concerned about everyone else about than about her. I think that speaks so much to who she is and to her parents.

As the father of two young girls, if I can raise them to be half the person Colleen was, I think it will turn out. I know she’s going to look down on this and totally enjoy this party. I can’t say thank you enough for asking me to come speak. All our patients touch us in certain ways and stick with us. But, really, she’s one in a million and not one I will ever forget. She’s a part of the reason I am who I am. Thank you.