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Birth Date Gender Nationality Alpha type Alpha gene Last FEV1 Diagnosed Treatment TX Listed Transplant TX Hospital Siblings |
Henry Eckert I live in Kenosha, WI. I am a Garage Door Technician. My favorite color is Red. My favorite movies Dances with Wolves. My favorite music is Blues, Jazz, or Country My favorite pastime is Hacky Sack and Exercising. I have 1 dog, a Pug. My favorite quote "We create our own destiny by creating our own fears."
5/15/2006 My name is Henry Eckert. I'm 35 years young. I consider this my fourth chance at life and I plan to make the best of it. When I was a younger man in school, I was the fastest student in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. I was a good athlete, loving both track and field and football. At the age of 15 I was in the construction trade. At 24 I became a garage door installer, I would climb 30 feet high on extension ladders to install springs, lifting heavy commercial doors. I never had trouble breathing. When i was 29 years old I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The doctors removed my left testicle due to a malignant tumor. I went through radiation treatments. I was sick to my stomach but healed enough to go back to work, doing the same job I was doing before the cancer. After returning to work, I found my job harder to do. I was short of breath and fatigued but figured it was just from the radiation and healing. well, that lasted until Nov, 2000. I ended up in the hospital with a severe lung infection. They told me I had pneunomia. My family doctor then told me i had asthma. He prescribed an inhaler (Combivent) I felt better for a little while but then got sick again in may 2001. An on- call doctor at the hospital looked at my x-rays and told me he wanted to run some blood tests, but not too worry. The next day he came in my room and told me I had a hereditary disease, called, Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. He told me I lost tissue in my lungs, and every time I get sick, I lose more. He basically told me that I didn't have any elastin (rubber-bands) in my lungs. My lung volume dropped drastically. Before the cancer, and radiation, I was fine. My doctors and I can't prove it but we think the disease was sped up from the radiation treatments. The radiation disturbs the white blood cells which is a big part of alpha-1 disease. So... I went back to my local pulmonologist, who put me on an infusion called Aralast. He said it would slow my disease down. I finally gave in and left my job as a garage door installer in March of 2004. My lung capacity at the time was only at 15%. Through my union, I went on Disability; later to Social Security in September of 2004. In Dec. 2003, I was told by my pulmonologist, that I would be put on a waiting list for a transplant. Well, that never happened. I asked him about it many times but he kept telling me to just hang in there and see what the Aralast does. I asked him "why" he didn't want me on the list., he was very discouraging, telling me that transplant patients only last for about 3 years. I got upset and went home. I got on my computer and started searching for transplant hospitals in my area. In April,2004, I found UW Madison Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Said to be the best. I called the pulmonologist there, Dr. Richard Cornwell. The soonest appointment I could get for an evaluation was in June. I went back to Madison in June to see Dr. Cornwell, he asked who referred me to him. when I told him I found him on the computer, he said I needed a referral from another doctor to see him. So, I told him that my local pulomonlogist didn't want me to have a transplant but I gave him the name anyway for the referral. I just prayed he would be alright with that. That was my only chance at survival. I was still taking the Aralast infusions, waiting to die, not knowing. Then, I went through the evaluations and was put on the transplant list in Sept 7th 2004. I still exercised three times a week with my oxygen on. At the time, on 3 liters of o2 everyday, all day. On February 16th 2005, 4:30 a.m. my home phone rang. My bedroom is on the second floor, and I knew I couldn't make it down to the first floor in time to get it. Then, my cell- phone rang seconds later. My stomach got really weak, I started sweating, I answered the phone. It was the nurse from the transplant team at Madison Hospital. She said "are you sitting down?" I started to cry. I thought I was dreaming. She told me that they had a set of lungs that match for me. I would be coming to Madison but go back to sleep. Ha- Ha, How was I suppose to go back to sleep! I never went back to sleep. Instead, I was making calls telling everyone that I might be going. At 7:00 a.m. they called back and said they were sending an ambulance to get me. By 8:00a.m. the ambulance was there with a stretcher waiting for me to go. I told them that they wasted their time with the stretcher, I was walking out to the ambulance! They laughed and got me loaded in. I called everyone on the way to Madison to let them know I was on my way. When I got there, they put me in a gown and talked to me about the transplant. They said it could only be a dry run. When I went into surgery, I prayed to god. I made peace with myself. I was ready to take the risk of not waking up from the surgery. Well, I did. When I woke up, I had a tube in my throat. I knew right away that I had new lungs. I COULD BREATH! I looked up and thanked god for sparing my life again. I thank god everyday for waking up and being alive. Before the transplant, I was only at 12% lung volume. Two days after surgery, I was at 85% lung volume. I stayed in the hospital for 10 days. The nurses had me up in my chair pedaling the day after my transplant and walking a little with the help of a wheelchair. The doctors would have let me out of the hospital in five days but they found a pin hole in my left lung. They had to install a small tube in my airway to help my lung heal and stick to the wall of my chest. That was my only complication. My surgeon, Dr. Robert Love, told me that there were only two people on the list that fit the lungs. The other person didn't match well enough for some reason. I was very lucky to receive a bilateral lung transplant. The only thing the doctor could tell me about my donor, was, He was a big man with a huge chest. I'm not a big guy but because of the disease and the stretching over time, i needed a larger set of lungs. My donor was a near perfect match. My lung volume now is at an astounding 118%. I exercise 3-4 days a week. In January 2006, I found out I had testicular cancer again. They removed my other testicle. Again, I had a malignant tumor. The doctors said I caught it in the early stages of stage 1. I was very lucky not to have to go through radiation again. I feel that my cancer came back because of the immune suppressant drugs I am taking. My cancer is gone. I feel great! I feel God has blessed me once again at another chance at life. I'm back to installing garage doors. I'm still in the union. Enjoying my family (7 kids) between my fiancé and I. Life is great! I thank God everyday for my life and my family. I have no regrets, even if I only live another year, it was worth it! I wrote a letter to my donor family to thank them for this wonderful gift, they haven't written back yet. I would understand if it were too difficult for them. Even before this experience, I was a donor, because of this experience, I truly understand its importance. Anything I can donate when I go, will be donated. I can say this because, I was waiting to die before I got on the list. If anyone reading this, is undecided of getting a transplant, I say, the risk is worth it. It's worth another chance at life. Just be strong. Thank you for reading my story.
Henry Eckert |
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