Kevin Beale (on left) together with his household that features 2 UVA alums. Beale turned a good larger Wahoo fan after his lung transplant journey at UVA Health.
A lifelong tennis participant, Kevin Beale has at all times been in good condition. But final 12 months when he reached his mid 60s, he had to surrender his new favourite sport — pickleball. He bought winded simply strolling to get the newspaper. The motive? Pulmonary fibrosis. He wanted a lung transplant ASAP.
Common Cause of Lung Transplant
Pulmonary fibrosis is the commonest continual lung illness that results in lung transplant within the United States, says Christopher Scott, MD, a thoracic surgeon who carried out Beale’s surgical procedure.
Pulmonary fibrosis scars the lungs. And the lungs step by step lose their skill to move oxygen to the remainder of the physique. Often, we do not know the trigger.
Pulmonary fibrosis can’t be cured. Experts can often deal with it with remedy, however Beale had a extreme kind. He wanted an oxygen tank.
Getting Beale New Lungs ASAP
Last April, barely in a position to breathe, Beale ended up within the ER close to his house in Richmond. As quickly as a hospital mattress turned obtainable at UVA Health, Beale was transferred to Charlottesville. Here, he met the transplant group.
“It was quite a shock to him, the word ‘transplant’ even. He wasn’t aware that was something he was going to need in the short-term interval,” says Hannah Mannem, MD, medical director of the UVA Health Lung Transplant Program.
But she defined to Beale and his household, “You have a lung disease that’s fatal. And unfortunately, your disease is progressing at a fast pace. If we don’t move fast, it may outpace your ability to be able to get a lung transplant.”
April is Donate Life month. Become an organ donor.
With New Lungs, Back to Pickleball Court
The transplant group moved shortly. They bought Beale via many pre-transplant assessments and steps. By final April 28, he bought on the organ wait listing. Then on June 9, transplant surgeons gave him a brand new set of lungs. He joins the greater than 600 individuals who’ve had a lung transplant at UVA Health.
Today, Beale now not wants an oxygen tank to breathe. And he is again on the pickleball courts.
“The entire transplant team has been wonderful,” Beale says.
He provides, “I was very lucky. And I got a great set of lungs. Now I’m working at keeping them going.”