Jonathan Wilhoite Blog: Man Runs 5K After Lung Transplant To Inspire Organ Donation

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Man Runs 5K After Lung Transplant To Inspire Organ Donation

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This after 32 year old Eamonn Kelly, a science teacher, who went under the knife for a lung transplant six months ago due to cystic fibrosis happily ran a 5K run to inspire organ donation.

A way to advocate and inspire organ donation

Kelly said the transplant sparked his interest to spur an advocacy to inspire organ donation as he was recovering from surgery. He ran back in high school and college up until his health condition was worsened by his cystic fibrosis, that had him hooked up to an oxygen tank just to allow him to breathe properly.

He joined the Boston College Race to Educate 5K for the benefit of his school the Saint Columbkille Partnership School. When his wife told him that the date of the run was exactly the sixth month after his double lung transplant it gave him more reason and motivation to participate in the race.

Kelly was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at birth – a rare genetic degenerative disease of the lungs, pancreas and other organs to build-up, often resulting to clogged airways and traps bacteria that cause infection eventually leading to damage and worse, respiratory failure.

While conventional treatments have been successful at extending the lives of many with cystic fibrosis, the average lifespan is 37 years and in the United States alone, there are 33,000 reported cases of patients diagnosed with this condition.

For four years since his lung condition worsened, Kelly was tethered to an oxygen tank to help him breath, but significantly limited his activities. The most that he could do to exercise was walk short distances tugging along a portable tank and riding on a stationary bike.

But determination and willpower prevailed over his health condition as he vowed to be more active after surgery just to prove that he can still do things like a healthy person and even physically prepared himself prior to the procedure.

A day after surgery, he started taking 40 paces and progressed day after day until he was able to walk around the hospital floor where he was recovering.

When he left the hospital and began his rehabilitation process, he started out with walking the treadmill with a speed of three miles an hour and a week and a half later, he began to start running.

At first, he tried to up the ante by running 10 miles an hour, which lasted him only 10 seconds and told his therapists that he had difficulty doing it, so they tried another approach to run for 15 seconds, then walk and do another 15-second run, which helped build up his strength and lung capacity.

In less than a month after his rehab, Kelly was able to run a quarter of a mile without stopping, which he pointed out was a very exciting realization where he was measuring his progress in second and minute increments until he was able to get a good measure of distance.

Kelly finished the 5K in 38 minutes and 33 seconds, noting that he his advocacy to inspire organ donation is also his celebration of another chance at life.

Image Credit: 6 months after double-lung transplant, man runs 5K to inspire organ donation – NBC News

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from NUTRITION CLUB CANADA http://nutritionclub.ca/inspire-organ-donation/amp/