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Gainesville man racing in honor of new lungs, new life July 3, 2003 By MICHAEL
CARVELL
"I kidded with one of my friends and told him that if I broke my ankle halfway through the race that I would crawl on my hands and knees to finish," Geiger said. "What it takes, I'm going to do." The grit and determination are not surprising after what the Gainesville resident has gone through over the past nine years: Geiger was diagnosed with a genetic lung disease in 1994, had both hips replaced in 2000 and suffered a life-threatening bike accident last year. Running in the Peachtree for the first time in nearly a decade has been a source of motivation in Geiger's recovery process. "This is a decision I made a long time ago," Geiger said. "The Peachtree is not just for me. It is for other people who have had organ transplants or are waiting on one. "It is for the family of my organ donor, and to show them the decision they made was the right one. People do get organ transplants and put their life to good use." Geiger's life was changed forever in 1994. Because he frequently became short of breath, he underwent a simple blood test and was diagnosed with alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency, or "genetic emphysema." After being told by doctors that his lungs were working at 40 percent of their capacity, Geiger decided to do "something crazy" a few months later, and ended up making his debut in the Peachtree. "It took me about an hour and a half," Geiger recalled. "I had to walk . . . my legs were fine then, but I couldn't run because I didn't have any air. I wanted to do it the next year, but by then I was too sick." Things got much worse before they got better for Geiger. Because of the steroids he was prescribed for his lung disease, he said, both of his hip bones deteriorated, and he had surgery three years ago. Geiger's lung functioning had dropped to 18 percent when his name was finally called for a transplant last spring. After a successful operation at the University of Virginia, he returned home and began strengthening himself through biking. In September, Geiger was cruising down a trail on his bike when he had a wreck. His left thigh bone was shattered, and he nearly died after developing respiratory failure. Doctors put him on life support and in a drug-induced coma. "When I woke up three weeks later, I was told there was a good chance that I possibly wouldn't walk again and probably wouldn't walk again normally," Geiger said. "It was at that moment that I decided to recover to the my best of my ability. I decided to set some crazy goal, something beyond what anybody thought I could ever do, and that's when I remembered back to the Peachtree." Geiger has been training since January, building up his weight from 147 pounds to 175, adding plenty of muscle to his 5-foot-7 frame. He plans to walk the Peachtree and finish in around 90 minutes. "I'm literally in the best shape of my life," he said. "I have been driven by this wonderful gift of life that has been given me. Despite all the things that have happened to me, I feel like I have been blessed to live such a unique life. And I plan to live a long unique life. "Not many people get second chances in life. I've gotten a second, third, fourth and so on . . . ."
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Len Geiger, who underwent a double lung transplant
less than a year ago, is determined to finish The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race on Friday.