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Colleagues by chance, family by choice
Release Date: 09-30-2003 DAILY MAIL HEALTH REPORTER For Patricia Garnes, the Wal-Mart Supercenter at the Nitro Marketplace means family. Garnes, 36, was among the first hired five years ago and has worked there since then, even though she has been plagued with a continuing case of what she thought was asthma. Recently, she couldn't even muster up enough lung power to clean out the bins for the stationery department or walk with co-worker Sherri Davis to lunch at Fazoli's across the street. "I kept going to the same doctor for six years," Garnes said. "He kept telling me I had asthma. I kept getting worse and worse and was beginning to think I was crazy. I just didn't think someone my age could be so affected." Finally, her husband drove Garnes to the emergency room. Later, another asthma specialist, Dr. James Clark II, took her history and suggested a blood test for the rare genetic lung ailment called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Alpha-1 antitrypsin is a protein the liver produces to protect the lungs from destruction by enzymes. When the liver doesn't make enough of the protein, the lungs develop emphysema. The condition has no cure. Garnes' test was positive. Fortunately, a new drug has been introduced that scientists believe will prevent further damage to Garnes' lungs but won't correct the damage already done. Ultimately, Garnes may need a lung transplant. The plasma-derived infused drug, called Aralast, costs $3,120 per single weekly dose. It's uncertain how much of that her husband's insurance company will pay. Meanwhile, Garnes had to quit working last month, much to her and her co-workers' dismay. Because they missed her and worried about the huge medical insurance co-payments the Garneses would have to pay, her Wal-Mart colleagues decided they'd help out. In two weeks, their efforts at raffles and auctions for Garnes - with participation from 450 workers on all three shifts and several vendors - has produced $2,549 to help pay for the Aralast. Davis, the instigator, didn't tell Garnes about the fund raising, fearing she wouldn't allow it. "I didn't want her to think she was a charity case, but (we were doing it) because we love and miss her," Davis said. Lana Myers, who works at the Wal-Mart Vision Center, said people might assume that such a large store wouldn't rally around one employee. "What I have found is that in a very short time frame, the whole store has come together as an extended family to help Trish," Myers said. Garnes didn't even learn about the cake auction, the day-off-with-pay raffle, the spaghetti dinner and the T-shirt sale until a company official called her last week. "From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate it," Garnes said, a bit embarrassed over the attention. "It's just amazing to me. I had no idea they were doing it. I was blown away. We're not co-workers, we're family." Writer Therese Smith Cox can be reached at 348-4874 or by e-mail at therese@dailymail.com
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