By Janet O'Neill | Redding Record Searchlight
"I thought it was the flu and I went back to work," said Bourke, a lifetime resident of the small Siskiyou County community.
She postponed seeing a doctor because she didn't have medical insurance. Finally she relented, enduring multiple tests and doctor visits. Her liver was identified as the culprit.
But the day came when she couldn't even lift her head. After an emergency room visit in Mount Shasta on June 6, she was flown to University of California San Francisco Medical Center. After that, things get fuzzy.
"I just remember thinking, what the heck is going on?" said Bourke, 34. She lapsed into a coma, and her husband was summoned June 13 to "sign papers."
But the next day, she received the gift of a lifetime — a new liver. All she knows is the donor was a 50-year-old man.
"Literally, when they took my liver out it was 100 percent dead," she said. "If my donor had not come that night I would have died the next day."
Doctors never learned the cause of her sudden liver failure.
"I'm not a drinker and I've never been sick before," she said.
She left the hospital June 24. It was cool in San Francisco.
"The air just felt so amazing," she recalled.
"I just cried the moment it touched my face."
Saturday will be a celebration of sorts, as Bourke and a team of supporters — 27 as of midweek — will do the 5K Donate Life Run/Walk, McCloud style. The 9-year-old fete will draw an estimated 9,000 people to Fullerton the same day.
Until this year, no one had organized a small version of the event.
"Amy reached out to us," said Paula Valle, a spokeswoman for the Fullerton celebration. Proceeds from the $20 per person event go to the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry enrollment campaign, Valle said.
To join Saturday's walk, just show up at 9 a.m. at McCloud Elementary.
Meanwhile, Bourke has settled in to her new life.
"I'm doing pretty good, actually," she said Wednesday. "I have to be extremely careful when it comes to germs."
She takes medication four times a day and has changed the way she eats, steering clear of sodium and fat. She walks every day.
In the beginning, two miles was her limit. But on Tuesday, "I did it," she said. "I made the whole 3.2 miles. It was a very incredible moment for me."
Over the past year, the people of McCloud have rallied behind her, husband Jarrod and their daughters. They've donated blood, and held bake sales, yard sales, a dinner and auction.
"My community and my friends have been truly amazing to me," Bourke said. "Everybody here is definitely family to me."
Reflecting on the past year still brings tears.
"It' been a big adjustment for all of us," Bourke said. "It's definitely opened all our eyes on how precious life is. But really, until it happens to you, you don't really get that. I honestly think I've been given a second chance at life and it's the best gift anybody can give you."
To learn more about the registry, go to donatelifecalifornia.org.
If you go
WHAT: 5K Donate Life Run/Walk
WHO: Organized by McCloud liver recipient Amy Bourke
WHERE: McCloud Elementary School
WHEN: 9 a.m. Saturday
WHY: Proceeds from $20 donation go to Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry enrollment campaign
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