Lucy

Birth Date
7/19/49

Gender
Female

Ancestors
Irish, Scottish, English

Nationality
American

Alpha type
lung

Alpha level
20mg/dl

Alpha gene
ZZ

Diagnosed
1992

Last FEV1
23-27%

Treatment
Prolastin

Surgeries
Portacath in 1993

Siblings
7

Doris L. Mitten a.k.a. Lucy

Alpha Angel as of 2004

I live in Ohio.

I am a retired School Teacher.

My favorite color is Green

I have a cat named Puddy.

I enjoy reading, talking with friends, watching movies

My favorite Line: "Sometimes I feel lower than a snake's belly!"

My 2nd favorite Line: "I Feel Good, dodadodadoada...", as Little Richard used to sing. (which I sang after my 2nd portacath surgery)

2/28/2003 I am the youngest of 8 children, 3 of my brothers have died from Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. My brother Dean died in 1975, Don died from liver failure in 1988 and Walter died in 2001. All of us were tested in 1984 when Don got sick, but it was so rare the doctor told me he had never heard of women getting the disease. Because my three brothers were sick, I felt I "wouldn't get it." We didn't know it was genetic, we didn't understand it and no one knew how to treat it. My brother begged me to quit smoking and I did while going to college to become a teacher. I gained a lot of weight, my brother died in 1988 and I graduated from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 1990 (UNLV...remember when they won the NCAA championship for basketball...the Runnin' Rebels?

I kept getting more and more short of breath, but I was treated for asthma. I was in such denial because I was sure I couldn't "get" my brother's disease. Finally in 1992 a dear teacher friend told me there had to be something wrong with my breathing. I went to my old allergist and asked for an alpha blood test. In a few days his younger associate came to me with the news that I had Alpha. I was going to be put on Prolastin and that, "they had caught it in time." My new allergist had gone to medical school with someone who worked with Alpha patients, so he and I became partners in fighting this disease.

Eventually, I had to quit teaching because I got so many colds and flu. After a bout of double pneumonia I used up all my sick days, so I had to quit teaching. I moved back to rural Ohio to be with my extended family. I've been on oxygen since 1994. All of my brothers were thin and became very thin when they were sick with Alpha. I waited to get thin, but it hasn't happened. I guess no matter how sick I am I always perk up at the mention of dessert! I am also a one-woman education show. Everywhere I go I tell people about Alpha 1. One doctor told me I should be a sales rep for an oxygen company! Educating myself and others helps me cope with the disease and helps me deal with the loss of my three brothers, my Alpha angels.