A Day at the Races (19 page)

Mike looked at Brenda and she was right, he felt comfort in her words and she was a strong character beneath the tears. He had prayed that everything would go well, and he thanked the parents of the poor donor girl Helen for giving a new life to Rachel.

Early next morning Mike and Brenda suitably gowned, went down with Rachel to the surgical area and stayed with her whilst she was prepared for surgery, then kissed her and held her hand as she was wheeled into theatre six.

The sheer fear and trepidation that they both felt for Rachel was pure hell and they felt helpless, but now it was a waiting game, they had to leave it to these special people to work their magic.

Naseer and his team worked on Rachel preparing her to receive the donor liver.

The first team moved in to perform the hepatectomy and remove her diseased liver. This was a complicated procedure and involved the division of all ligamentous attachments. The bile duct, hepatic artery, hepatic vein and portal veins were clamped off and cut so that the old liver could be removed, machines now controlled her vital functions, all the time the anaesthesiologist was keeping a close eye on her condition.

Once removed Naseer took a look at the old liver.

“Wow look at the state of this liver, it looks like it has come out of a person with a serious drink problem, just look at the colour.

We acted in the nick of time I don’t think this child would have lasted more than a couple of weeks. The strange colour and texture indicates something seriously wrong, so we need to get this organ over to the Pathology lab for immediate analysis, tell them I want a result back before the end of this day, if that’s possible.”

One of the staff immediately took the old diseased liver over to the Path lab with Naseers instructions.

They checked her surrounding organs for any sign of cancer or other infection, but everything seemed clear and ok.

In theatre two, a team had just removed the heart from the donor and packed it in ice ready to go to theatre four to be implanted into the nineteen-year old girl from New York. As soon as they had finished, another team moved in to remove her liver.

When they had removed the donor liver they packed it in an ice-cold Viaspan solution that would replace the donors blood in the liver until transplanted.

The organ was placed in a container, it was delivered straight to theatre six for Naseers’s team, who were waiting and ready to get to work, putting the replacement liver into Rachel.

This team consisted of four surgeons, including Mr Mohammed, one anaesthesiologist and four support nurses as well as Naseer who would oversee the hepatic transplantation. This was an ideal opportunity for Mr Mohammed to see first hand, the new techniques that Naseer would use in this operation.

An initial concern for Naseer, was the size of the donor liver, given it came from a young adult although she was small in stature, it was being placed into a child. However on inspection it was smaller than he would have expected, so the size didn’t unduly concern him.

They worked constantly and as quickly as possible, to connect the new liver to her existing organs, in the same anatomic location.

This involved many anastomoses and sutures, and many reconnections of the abdominal hepatic tissue.

It was pains taking work, as the team worked in shifts, with Naseer overseeing the whole operation.

When the new organ had been connected to the inferior vena cava, the portal vein and the hepatic artery, and various ligamentous attachments had been made, the blood flow was restored.

The bile duct was then constructed into the small intestine, and once this had been completed, they were on the homeward stretch.

Naseer checked everything was functioning normally, checking thoroughly to make sure nothing was missed, and to be absolutely sure that all the instruments and swabs had been checked and accounted for.

“Sister that seems to be working fine, the colour looks normal, please make sure she continues with the immunosuppressive drugs, corticosteroids, cyclosporine and the purine antagonist mycophenolate mofetil.”

This was standard procedure in transplant surgery to prevent rejection, and the theatre sister wrote everything down onto Rachel’s chart that Naseer had said.

“I want a nurse by her bedside all night monitoring her vital signs, you are to notify me of any change in her condition, whatever the time is, is that understood? ”

The Theatre Sister nodded, she gave instructions to the nurses as to what they had to do.

Naseer felt happy with the way things had gone, he left it to one of his senior surgeons and Mr Mohammed to finish off and close up Rachel, then to get her into intensive care.

By now, Naseer and the team were totally exhausted, as they had been on duty close on fourteen hours. He thanked them all for a job well done, eventually they all left theatre and de-gowned.

Naseer got back to his office and received the results back from the lab, but it was not as bad as he had expected.

It was a rare form of cancer, however this had already been established by an earlier biopsy in England, but it was not a migratory type of cancer and there were no signs it had spread beyond the old liver. It was just that the liver was in such bad condition Naseer didn’t like the look of it, but felt a sigh of relief when he read the report from the Path Lab.

Finally, Rachel was removed from the theatre into intensive care. Later that night, Mike and Brenda suitably gowned to prevent infection, were allowed to see her for a short while, although she was still sedated.

Brenda found it hard to look at her baby, with all the tubes and drips attached to her, and machines monitoring her vital functions, but at least she had come through the operation and Naseer was pleased with the way it had all gone.

He came into intensive care while Mike and Brenda were there.

“Rejection is our main concern and the next seventy two hours will be critical, but once she is over that, it is a major hurdle and we should see dramatic signs of improvement. It is a natural function of the body’s immune system to reject a foreign body, but this will decrease over time and the drugs will help to overcome this. But the operation went very well, we are so pleased with how the whole procedure went from start to finish, and we are very hopeful she will be ok.”

Mike and Brenda felt reassured with Naseers words.

They constantly checked on Rachel, and viewed her through a window, but they were allowed in a couple of times a day to sit by her bedside.

Over the coming days and weeks Rachel did improve, and her colour got more normal as she lost the distinct yellow pallor in her eyes and skin that she had had previously.

Week by week she got stronger, Naseer saw her every day, the team constantly monitored her progress, so much so that Brenda thought there was something wrong and asked Naseer if this was normal.

“Absolutely we don’t want to get complacent at any stage, not when she is doing so well, but as time goes on we will scale back our attention when we feel she is out of danger, then at least you can get back to some kind of normality.

She will however be on anti rejection drugs for the foreseeable future, possibly for the rest of her life, but that is a small price to pay for a dramatic improvement in her quality of life.”

Mike and Benda agreed with him, they were just so grateful to see the massive change in their daughter.

Chapter 23

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About a week after Mike and his family had left for the US, Moxie was at home, when he received a phone call from Manfred Kumpers in Germany.

“Hello Richard it’s Manfred Kumpers here, can you meet me at Manchester Airport this coming Thursday, I intend arriving on the noon flight from Frankfurt if this is convenient for you?”

“Sure thing Manfred, is it important?”

“Yes it is, we have a proposal to put to you but I would rather tell you face to face, if you can wait that long?”

“Not a problem Manfred, but please call me Moxie everybody does, its so long since anyone used my real name, its almost like you are talking to someone else.”

“No problem then Moxie, I will see you on Thursday about noon, providing there are no airport delays.”

The wait over the next few days was killing Moxie, he wondered what they wanted, it was so long since he had any good news, and he had become accustomed to taking one knock after another.

Moxie was waiting in the arrivals hall at Manchester Airport, when he saw Manfred Kumpers came through the Customs section.

He held out his hand.

“Hi Manfred great to see you again, did you have a good flight?”

“Yes for once the flight was on time, although I barely made it to the airport due to heavy traffic on the Autobahn. But I am here now although I don’t have much time, so lets go upstairs to the Lancastrian Restaurant and get some lunch, and I can tell you what we have in mind and what my Company would like to put to you.”

Moxie was excited at this prospect, what was it? It had been so long since he had had any good news.

They ordered the daily specials and Kumpers ordered a bottle of Merlot.

“I suppose you are wondering what all this is about, especially since you came over to see us and we had nothing for you at that time, mainly because the contract we had with Miller would have precluded this?

Well the situation with Miller and Central Cars and also Klaus Beyer, caused us immense problems and their contracts were terminated, as soon as we became aware what had been going on.

The Police drugs division raided four of our showrooms in Germany, but of course they didn’t find anything.

However, Helmut Capstan who is the President of the group threw an absolute fit when he found out what Miller and Beyer had been up to. He ordered us to sever all contacts with them immediately, and threatened to dismiss anyone who had contact with either of them again.

This was a very difficult period for us after doing business with them for so long, but his word was final. Of course over the years Miller and Beyer have moved an awful lot of our cars into the UK, and there is a serious hole in balance sheet because of the loss of these sales.

That is were you come into the picture, we want to open a new Sales Office in the Northwest and we would like you to run it for us.”

Moxie was shocked and sat there open jawed at this news.

“I don’t know what to say Manfred, can you elaborate?”

“Sure I can, what we want is for you to set up and run a new division with a brand new showroom, and we will go in 50/50 partners with you.”

“Manfred I have to tell you straight off, that I have no money to put into this venture, I have barely being existing since Miller dispensed with my services.”

“That’s not a problem, we will foot the bill for the whole operation, we just want you to run it and we will split the profits down the middle.

Naturally you will have a generous salary with a company car, medical and pension benefits and the more cars you sell the more bonuses you will receive. We will also give you a generous share option in the parent company, what do you say?”

“I feel like I am dreaming and sooner rather than later, I am going to wake up and find its all been a figment of my imagination.”

“Its not a dream Moxie, its a firm offer with a contract to seal the deal.

Our Solicitors in Manchester who are Grubb, Botcher and Ansell on Deansgate, will have prepared a contract for you to sign. They will also advance you ten thousand pounds to search an area in the Northwest for a suitable showroom, because time is of the essence, and we need to start selling cars again quickly. The advance is to cover whatever incidental expenses you might incur in your search for a property, and if you need more, you only have to ask. What do you say?”

“Well what can I say but yes, I would be a fool to turn it down, selling cars is the only thing I am good at and I love it and have been doing it for a good few years, and yes I am itching to go.”

“Good, my President will be delighted, he has high hopes that you will re-establish our position back where we should be. Please contact the number on this card and make an appointment with Jack Grubb, he is the senior partner in the practice and he will arrange to transfer the funds to whatever Bank you want, or whatever way you want the funds, after you sign the contract in their offices. I know he is out of the office this afternoon but he will be there in the morning.

I am on the 4.00 p.m. flight back to Frankfurt so I had better make tracks. Please keep me posted on your progress in locating a suitable location for a showroom, and I know you won’t let us down?”

Kumpers left a generous tip for the waitress, and Moxie walked him down to departures.

“Thanks for everything Manfred I will do my best, and I will put a call through to your solicitors first thing in the morning.”

Kumpers shook him warmly by the hand, and strode off towards the departure lounge.

Moxie couldn’t believe what had just taken place, he thought he would be on the ranks of the unemployed for some time, instead he had just been offered the dream job of a lifetime and the enormity of it all was only just beginning to sink in.

He rang Frank and Fisher later that evening to give them the good news, and they were genuinely delighted for him.

First thing the next morning, he put a call through to the solicitors and arranged to meet them later in the day.

After signing the contract he contacted a few estate agents to see if they had any available property on their books that was suitable for car showrooms. He visited “Value Properties” in Radcliffe and after studying what they had on their books; he short-listed four properties, two in Bury and two in Bolton.

The first three properties were far from ideal and he began to feel it wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. However, the fourth property he saw in Bury on the corner of Oxford Street and Rochdale Road was an absolute beauty, ideal for what he had in mind.

It was a brand new building with five thousand square feet of showroom space, with offices overhead, and a large building at the rear suitable for a mechanics workshop and service bay.