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Thankful for a Second Chance
at Life
Before the double-lung transplant she had at
Loyola University Health System in May 2006, Randi Kennard’s
family had a very simple way of keeping track of her
in public. They'd wait to hear the cough, then they
knew where to look for her. “Now they don’t
know where I am," said Kennard, a resident of Beverly.
Since her surgery, Kennard effortlessly participates
in activities that used to take a great toll on her
body because of her failing lungs. She regularly attends
her daughters’ dance shows. Shopping is a breeze.
Catching the latest movies is a joy. And, she loves
being able to go to restaurants and again enjoy the
taste of food. However, all those things aside, it was
the absence of the constant cough that convinced Kennard,
who was born with cystic fibrosis, that her life has
definitely changed for the better after her surgery.
Kennard admits that she had put off the surgery a little
longer than she should have. Her doctor told her in
2004 that she probably would need a lung transplant
to survive. My doctor at the University of Chicago said,
‘You really need to go talk to the folks at Loyola.’”
Loyola's reputation, experience, success and lung
transplant team are the reasons Kennard sites for choosing
Loyola. She spent 10 days in Loyola’s surgical
intensive care unit following her surgery; something
that she said the hospital medical staff had well prepared
her for.
“Before, during and after. I couldn’t ask
for a better place. They were phenomenal. I could go
on and on and on,” Kennard said. “The housekeepers,
the respiratory therapists, the physical therapist,
the chaplain – everybody that had a part of you,
they were all phenomenal.”
Let Randi tell you her story.
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‘It Should Be Against
the Law to Be That Intelligent’
As a seriously ill Larry Smith was being wheeled into
Loyola University Hospital for a lung transplant the
morning of Nov. 8, 2005, he was confident he was on
the verge of escaping the death sentence chance had
dealt him. Smith required the life-saving surgery to
treat the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis he was diagnosed
with in October 2000. The people at Loyola are "confident
and you kind of grow off of their confidence. I knew
I was in good hands.”
Ten days later, Smith’s confidence was rewarded
when he was released from Loyola’s Surgical Intensive
Care Unit. Though he left as he entered – in a
wheelchair – there was one huge, very important
difference. He wasn't accompanied by an oxygen tank.
“To have all those people with the ability to
do what they do, it should be against the law to be
that intelligent," said the 56-year-old Smith.
I feel just about as normal as I can ever remember
being. There’s so much that I can do now because
of the lung transplant.” Today, Smith finds himself
enjoying what some might call “the little things
in life.” Seeing his wife off to work in the morning.
Opening the house to let the cooler, late summer breeze
in. Seeing his four children off to school and college.
Little things? Smith knows otherwise.
"Every day you wake up is a good day. I don’t
care what your other problems are because I’ve
been to the point where I might not have gotten up the
next day.”
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Double-lung Transplant Patient
Beats Odds, Honors Gift
Whenever double-lung transplant patient Jim Leman of
Grayslake is tempted to indulge in any sort of risky
activity, an overriding thought always gives him pause.
“I think, ‘You know, Jim, some unfortunate
soul lost their life, and the transplant they gave you
was a gift. Take care of yourself. Don’t dishonor
that gift,’” said the 54-year-old Leman,
a freelance business writer.
Leman received that gift more than a decade ago on
a rainy Friday in May 1996 at Loyola University Medical
Center where he underwent the life-changing procedure
to treat the cystic fibrosis he was born with.
Some might say that Leman has beaten the odds. The
10-year survival rate for lung-transplant patients is
24 percent, according to statistics from United Network
For Organ Sharing, a non-profit organization that runs
the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, the nation’s
transplant waiting list and organ allocation system.
However, Leman insists that he doesn’t give the
statistic too much thought.
“It’s not something that I get up today
and say, “Oh, man, I’ve got five years,
six years, seven years, 10 years. I get up in the morning
and take my rejection meds and that’s it,”
Leman said. “Also, what they’ve (his doctors
at Loyola) always told me is, ‘Those are just
statistics. You’re a person. Everybody is different.’
That’s what I try to hold on to.”
Before his surgery Leman suffered constant headaches
due to his failing lungs’ inability to adequately
remove carbon dioxide from his system. Tasks as simple
as tying his shoelaces would cause him to pass out.
However, he began to take surgery more seriously when
he noticed a pronounced downturn in his health in 1995.
“I was getting sick a lot. I was in the hospital
a lot and I kept losing more and more ability to breathe,”
Leman said. “That’s when my doctor told
me that it looks like your time to go see those guys
(Loyola).”
After his surgery, the first thing Leman noticed was
that his stamina was greatly enhanced. Then he noticed
the cough – it wasn’t there any more. “That
was a big change,” he said.
Leman has nothing but praise for the treatment he has
received. “I feel very confident in the group
there. The whole team does a great job,” he said.
“Loyola just has a wonderful system there.”
His advice to other lung-transplant patients is simple.
“Life is what it is. It is what you can make of
it. It will be what it will be. Just grab it and go
for it,” Leman said.
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