By Crystal McGough
TRUSSVILLE – In 1974, 27-year-old Trussville resident Nancy Smith received news that would change not only her life, but the lives of her family, friends, community, and the medical transplant community as a whole.
The news was that Nancy had been born with a congenital heart problem called Atrial Septal Defect, a condition which causes a hole in the wall between the heart’s upper chambers.
Nancy was sent to Dr. John Kirklin, for whom UAB’s Kirklin Clinic is named, in hopes that the hole in her heart could be closed. However, after many tests, they determined that the hole could not be closed. Nancy was told to take medication, follow her doctor’s instructions, and she may live five years.
“That was in 1974,” Nancy’s husband Stan Smith said. “Well, in 1987 – that’s a long five years – she started having a little bit more problems.”
The Smiths’ family practitioner sent Nancy to see Dr. Jim Kirklin, the son of Dr. John Kirklin, who was doing heart transplants at UAB.
They discovered that Nancy’s heart was enlarged and had damaged her lungs. As a result, she could not have a heart transplant without also replacing both lungs. Dr. Kirklin told Nancy that she needed a heart/double-lung transplant for her particular condition, Eisenmenger Syndrome.
However, heart/double-lung transplants were a new concept and had not been performed at UAB at that time. Additionally, in order to do the procedure, the heart and both lungs needed to come from the same donor.
“They had just started that program at UAB and they actually wanted Nancy to be the first (to get the procedure),” Smith said. “She didn’t want to. She said, ‘I want you to get the bugs worked out of it.’”
As it turned out, Nancy was the third person, and first woman, to receive a heart/double-lung transplant at UAB Hospital. Nancy’s donor was a young boy from Eufaula, Alabama, named Scott Parrish, who tragically had a fatal brain injury after getting hit by a car while riding his bicycle.
“Scott will always be my hero,” Smith said on his Facebook page.
On Oct. 3, 1989, Nancy’s transplant surgery was complete. Ten years later, however, Nancy discovered that the medication she had been taking damaged her kidneys to the point of needing a kidney transplant. In 1999, Nancy underwent her second organ transplant when her sister, Dolores Traylor, donated a kidney to her. The procedure went well for both sisters.
Nancy passed away in September 2007, at the age of 61, about two weeks short of the 18th anniversary of her heart and lung transplant.
For many years, Stan Smith has been looking for ways to share his wife’s story, and the hope that is offered through organ transplant. In 2019, an opportunity to share Nancy’s story on a larger scale arose when Austin Wiggins, a member of Smith’s church, started a life group for creative photography and videography.
“It’s funny how God puts people in your life,” Smith said. “Austin, to me, was one of those people that got put in at the right time.”
At the time, Wiggins was on staff as Creative Director at Faith Community Fellowship, in Trussville. During the life group’s September 2019 meeting, he asked the group if anyone had an idea for a testimonial-style documentary film.
“He went around the table asking for ideas, and I happened to be the last one,” Smith said. “I’ve been trying to tell my wife’s story, about her going through the heart/double-lung transplant, and then the kidney transplant, and all that’s transpired from that. They thought it was a good idea, so we started writing a script.”
Smith began going through old VHS tapes of his wife and of presentations he had made about her transplant journey. The group also began conducting interviews and filming at various locations, including Trussville’s Cahaba Springs. They also filmed some scenes in Eufaula, where Scott Parrish’s family lives. Scott’s mother, Donna, provided a written testimony, which is read in the film by Smith’s niece.
“Also, we had the letters that Nancy had sent to (Donna),” Smith said. “Tammy (Stan and Nancy’s daughter) read Nancy’s part and my niece read Donna’s letters back to Nancy.”
The film, which is co-directed by Smith and Wiggins, begins with Scott Parrish’s story: an 11-year-old boy who on Oct. 2, 1989, became an organ donor, saving the lives of four people, including Nancy.
“The first part of the movie is dedicated to him, and his mother telling his story,” Smith said.
The movie, titled “A Soul Filled Life,” was completed in June 2021 and premiered at Faith Community Fellowship in Trussville on July 17, with over 100 people in attendance. A second screening took place at the church on Oct. 17, with about 25-30 people in attendance, including Dr. Jim Kirklin and his wife.
“My experience co-directing ‘A Soul Filled Life’ was that of pure astonishment,” Wiggins said. “My eyes were opened wide to a world that I was largely oblivious to before. Working closely with Stan and his family and learning about Nancy’s story — and many other organ donor/recipient stories along the way — has had a lasting impact on my life. It is my wish for all who view the film to be affected similarly.”
“A Soul Filled Life” has been accepted into the Rome International Film Festival and will be shown at the historic DeSoto Theatre in Rome, Ga., on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 10 a.m. EST. Tickets can be purchase at the theater and passes to the festival can be purchased at riffga.com.
“The idea behind this whole movie is to show that transplantation really works,” Smith said. “That’s the point, to show Nancy’s story and that it really works, but also to encourage people to be an organ and tissue donor.”