The annual Dash for Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness is a time for transplant recipients, those awaiting transplant, donor families and transplant professionals to come together to promote awareness of organ and tissue donation. For Michael Lefevre, it is a time to show how far he's come and his gratitude for his donor. This is his story.
In January of 2012, I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic, progressive lung disease for which there is no known cause or cure. As the disease progressed, my world began to shrink as the things I enjoyed were getting harder and harder to do.
By May 2016, I required supplemental oxygen to function. My oxygen requirements continued to increase to the point where I was pretty much housebound, tied to my oxygen concentrator by a 50-foot oxygen hose (or as I used to call it "my leash"). I was evaluated for lung transplantation at Penn Medicine in September 2016 and was put on the transplant waiting list on June 12, 2017.
Six weeks later, a total stranger and his family made the decision to save lives through organ donation and transplantation, and I received the greatest gift there is: a double lung transplant.
Organ transplantation has been a miracle for me. I remember the first time I met with my transplant doctor. The one statement he made that will forever stay with me was, "One family's miracle is another family's tragedy." Through the gift I received from my donor, our lives will forever be intertwined.
At the time of my transplant I could not walk more than 50 feet without stopping to rest and catch my breath. Two days after my transplant, the physical therapists got me out of my bed and had me walk down the hall. When I was finished, I looked at my wife and said, “This is my first day of training for a 5k.”
A little over a week after I had the transplant surgery, I was walking up and down the long hospital hallway and I was able to walk up and down 15 steps. At six weeks post-transplant I was walking two miles on the treadmill and at six months post-transplant, I was getting ready to run a race again.
I am now seven months post bi-lateral lung transplant. All I know about my donor is that he was my hero. How do you even begin to express your gratitude for the gift of life? Nothing I could say would be adequate to express my gratitude. The only way I can think of to honor my donor and the gift he gave me is to live my life to the fullest, and to tell our story to raise awareness for the importance of organ donation.
Before my lung disease progressed, I was an avid runner having completed four half marathons.
When I heard about the Donor Dash I couldn’t think of a more appropriate race to be my first one post-transplant. I completed the 2018 Dash to honor my donor and the gift he gave me.