We’re doing a benefit for our friend Sam. This is from his sister. Don’t be a selfish asshole. Donate.
My brother, Sam has been struggling with cystic fibrosis all of his life. He was diagnosed at 9 months and when I was little, they told me my brother might make it to 16.
Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. The body produces an abnormally thick mucus that coats the walls of the lungs and sticks there like cement. Since it is very difficult to cough up the mucus, it just stays on the walls of the lungs collecting pathogens that then lead to respiratory illnesses like pneumonia. CF patients do not have the ability to absorb fat in their bodies, so maintaining a healthy weight is a struggle.
After numerous hospital stays during my brother’s high school years the damage had been done. He tried to go to college but being in that type of environment, he got sick and could not finish. The bouts of pneumonia began to take it’s toll on my brother. He got down to 79 pounds and needed to be placed on oxygen 24 hours a day. His 21st birthday came and went while he sat on the couch waiting.
He was placed on the lung transplant list and within 6 months received the call. May 22, 2002 is tattooed on my brother’s arm along with a black band that honors the donor. He received a double-lung transplant that saved his life. Not without complications that have put my brother under the knife multiple times.
Sam tried to go back to school so that he could become an elementary school teacher. During my brother’s time back at school, he experienced chronic rejection of his lungs. My brother’s immune system attacked the lungs and he had to undergo a treatment similar to dialysis. His blood was taken out of his body via a pen sized needle in his arm. The blood was then zapped by a ultraviolet light – the goal was to zap the white blood cells so that they would stop attacking the lungs. A temporary fix that wipped out my brother’s immune system on top of the immune suppresant drugs he takes for the transplant.
Coming up on his 10 year transplant anniversary and getting past chronic rejection, Sam was diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer. He underwent chemo and radiation treatments and is now discussing surgery. For a guy who has a disease where it is imperative that he constantly eats to maintain a healthy weight, stomach cancer is a grim diagnonis.
My brother is 31 years old. He has been fighting all his life and he is my hero. He has never once in his life said, “poor me” or “why me” or anything. He has fought hard and said things like, “just doing what I have to” and “bring it on, I’ve seen worse”. He got a therapy dog named Gill in 2010 to help him through it all.
I will never forget the day of Sam’s lung transplant. He was getting ready to go and I heard him tell my mom, “if anything happens to me, sell all of my stuff so that Katie can go to a good college”. That’s who my brother is and he just deserves to be happy more than anyone I’ve ever met. For a guy who’s been through hell and back so many times, it’s time for Sam to have his day.