moi

I guess I should start out with a little about me and why I've started this blog. January 7th, 2005 I recieved a double lung transplant at the University of California San Francisco. I was 18 years old. I've been through a lot in my life and instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for myself, I like to get out there and talk to or inspire people and hopefully make a difference in someone's life.

It all started when I was 14 years old and I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer the end of my freshman year of high school. I did get the benefit of skipping out on finals but little did I know about the road I had ahead of me. I had a total thyroidectomy and some lymph nodes removed as well. Unfortunately, this was such a difficult procedure that my vocal cord was paralyzed in the process. (This caused a whole different set of problems but we won't go there because it depresses me. ) I did eventually have a surgery to try to correct it but has still left me with a Marilyn Monroe-like voice which who knows, maybe some people think it's sexy. Haha.

The cancer spread to my lungs and the treatment for my type of cancer is radioactive iodine. Radioactive iodine is very cool in that it's so much easier to go through than chemotherapy. It requires me to go on a low-iodine diet before. My kind of cancer "craves" iodine so I "starve" the cancer and then give it a heavy dose of the stuff through a pill that also happens to be radioactive. So in a sense, the cancer seeks it out and kills itself. During this time, I am admitted to the hospital where I am quarantined in a private room and no one can come near me because I am radioactive. Even the food I eat has to stay in my room until I am cleared to leave as they need to take it down to a special radiation garbage in the bottom and hold it for years before they can bury it. My question is, what the HELL is that doing to my insides?!?! Haha. But at least the radiation only focuses on the cancer and leave the reast of my body unlike chemo.Long story short I had a few of those and it was no fun.

After awhile I noticed I was having trouble breathing. Turns out the treatments were causing pulmonary fibrosis in my lungs meaning scar tissue was taking up my lung space. I struggled through school (avoiding wearing my oxygen because I would look "different"-lame.) and by my 18th birthday I was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. I was put on life support and the doctors expressed to my family how serious this was and that I was in need of a lung transplant.This is where it got tricky. I still had cancer in my body and no one wil do transplants for people with cancer because they see it as a "waste of an organ." So here I am thinking they are just gonna let me die until one of the doctors asked if I had any conncections. I did, with a doctor, Dr. Orlo Clark at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) who had previously done some surgery on my neck. Turns out they had a lung transplant program there so I went to see Dr.Clark again for yet another surgery and stopped in to the transplant clinic to see if they could take me.

Well, that same trip I ended up getting penumonia again because of the surgery (this was about 2 weeks after I was released the first time.) Anyway, I was admitted to the hospital and again things were critical. They realized how bad I was and decided to take a chance on me and put me on the list for lungs under some direction from Dr.Clark so he could monitor the cancer aspect.So they worked together and I was finally placed on the list after a lot of tests and drama. I had to remain in San Francisco until I was called for the transplant because the time frame in which you need to get to the hospital is crucial. So,the doctors gave me 3 months to live and it was brutal, each day getting worse and losing more hope. Sure enough 3 months later I got really sick again and the paramedics had to transport me to the hospital. My surgeon told my family to call home and tell everyone to say goodbye, they were losing me. If he couldnt "find" lungs in 24 hours I wouldn't make it.He found them and I had the surgery on January 7th, 2005.

I've been through so much with the transplant alone that it's not even funny but it has all made me very wise, its made me stronger, and its made me realize how precious life is. Now, my goal in life is to inspire people, those who know nothing about transplants or organ donation or those who are waiting to be transplanted. I also go through any tests or studies that doctors ask me for because every one is a learning experience for them and if they can learn something from me, then maybe someone else won't have to suffer and we can slowly make medical advances.