Last Thursday, I had a contest to give out a $250 grant and Danielle Sterling won for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of New England. I asked her to write a guest blog about her cause. So today, I’m turning it over to Danielle so she give y’all the details of another great cause that Operation Jack is supporting. Have a great weekend!
My name is Danielle Sterling and I am a Registered Respiratory Therapist at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford, Maine. After graduating from college in 2003, I did social work/therapy with teenagers in the juvenile justice system and in 2006, started taking classes while awaiting acceptance into nursing school. Shortly after starting school (quite literally a week into it), I met my future husband, Tyler, and later on down the road I met his family. Specifically, his brother, Aaron. I learned he had a lung disease called “Cystic Fibrosis”, and had undergone a double lung transplant in 2003. Ty had already told me about the transplant but the whole story became complete once I met Aaron. The only thing I had ever known about CF was that a friend of mine growing up had lost her best friend to the disease when we were in grade school. Now it became all too real for me as well as I continued to get closer to the Sterling family.
Aaron was born with CF, but was not diagnosed until the first few months of life. The doctors told his parents he most likely would not make it to attend school. He was in and out of the hospital throughout his childhood for this treatment and that treatment, which is the norm for kids with this disease. Cystic Fibrosis is a progressive disease where thick, sticky mucus builds up in the lungs. Over time the body just cannot absorb the mucus and it takes over the areas where oxygenation and gas exchange takes place. This causes infection in those areas, and essentially the lungs become unusable. Early detection of this genetic disease is essential in order to start on proper medications, and in the state of Maine it was recently made a law that every baby born is tested before they leave the hospital. Both the mother and father must be a carrier of the CF gene in order to have the 25% chance of their unborn child to have CF, so you can also get tested before having a baby as well.
Aaron did go to school, in fact he attended high school and went on to the University of Maine in Orono. In 2003, due to the deteriorating status of Aaron’s lungs, he was in need of a double lung transplant. Ty got his blood type/matching capability checked and found out he was a perfect match. A fraternity brother of Ty & Aaron’s dad heard what was going on and also checked out to be a perfect match, and they both offered to be live donors for Aaron. In December, all three men went into surgery. As they took out Ty’s right lower lung lobe, his body went into shock on the operating table. His heart was stopped for almost 4 1/2 minutes, and they shocked him twice. Finally the doctor stuck his hands inside Ty’s chest and manually pumped his heart until it started up again. Post op his lung collapsed twice. They often say the donor typically has a tougher time in surgery than the recipient.
And just like that, Aaron had two new lungs and a new chance at life.
In 2007 Aaron developed pneumonia and then got the flu on top of it. His body was already weak and extremely immuno-compromised as it is, so even a cold or the flu that you and I can fight pretty easily was very difficult for Aaron to fight. He was taken to Mass General Hospital in Boston and was put on a ventilator (breathing machine). Ty and I packed up and headed down, staying with him for over a week until he recovered. As I was just getting into the nursing program I was very interested in the whole picture, what was going on with Aaron’s body, all the medications he was taking, and especially all of the machines. I watched the respiratory therapist manipulate the ventilator, explain what it was doing and why. Needless to say, I was rather intrigued.
Aaron’s condition improved and he was able to fight off the infection. His left lung was in need of replacement, while the right lung seemed unscathed. Once back home, I sat down with my anatomy & physiology teacher after class and told her about why I hadn’t been in school, and I mentioned my interest in the respiratory program the school had as opposed to the nursing path I was on. My teacher, Jane, told me she was one of the 3 respiratory professors at the school. This was a sign if I had ever seen one.
I had no idea what all went into respiratory therapy. I knew Aaron needed a new lung and I saw one of the respiratory machines that were used, yet on that very day of meeting with Jane, I went to admissions and applied to be in the upcoming RT class. I was accepted into the program that summer (2007), and began classes in September. Aaron had another lung transplant in January of 2009, and I graduated that following summer and started working in the hospital where I am today. I can honestly say that I really love doing my job. Sure I can have my bad days, but I know I am there to help my patients BREATHE. It is one of the most important life functions, and I watched first hand on someone I grew to love as my own brother just how important it is to be able to do something that the majority of people take for granted.
Aaron passed away last year on August 27th, 2011 a little over a month after his 30th birthday. His mother, father, fiancé, brother, and I were at his side at Duke University Hospital when the medications were stopped that were keeping him alive. We made the decision to allow him to be kept on the ventilator (as opposed to shutting it off) so that he would not feel as if he were struggling to breathe, something he had to deal with every day of his life.
Since meeting the Sterling family, and especially in the last 3 years as my respiratory therapy career continues to grow, I have made many efforts to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in fundraising and spreading awareness through golf tournaments, fundraisers, road races, etc. I am hopeful, as I am sure many others are as well, that one day they will find a cure for this devastating genetic disorder.
This year I am the co- race director for the 3rd annual 65 Roses 5k run/walk in Portland, Maine. I am an avid runner in this community and ran this race 3 years ago in its inaugural year. I love being able to use my running for a good cause, and this is obviously a cause that is near and dear to my heart. This years race will be held on Sunday September 23rd at East End Beach in Portland, Maine. All proceeds for this race benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of New England. To learn more info or to register/donate please visit www.65roses5k.net.
Thank you so much to everyone for voting/sharing the link this past weekend, and especially to Sam and Operation Jack for donating this $250 grant to our race/CF Foundation. I am very hopeful that with the ever evolving medical technology & research, we will someday find a cure for CF. Everyone deserves to breathe!
Marci says
Beautiful story. Keep up the good work!