Transplants give Garden Plain man a second chance at life

Chris Simon’s bucket list wasn’t anything fancy. He simply wanted to be able to ride a bike again. Or take a swim. Or go camping with friends. “Stuff I used to do all the time,” Simon said. “And all of a sudden it was taken away.” Those once simple joys were stolen by cystic fibrosis, the same disease that claimed his younger sister Emily’s life in 2009. The Simon family on Sunday will join millions of others around the world in celebrating Easter, a day symbolizing new beginnings. The holiday will have special significance for Chris, 26, who has another chapter dawning in his life after a double-lung/liver transplant several weeks ago. “It’s been a long ride,” he said. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that attacks organs in the body – most commonly the lungs. Two of Ron and Sarah Simon’s three children were born with it. Emily chose not to have the double-lung transplant she needed to extend her life. She died at the age of 19 in 2009. After Chris was hospitalized twice in his senior year at Kansas State University, the disease seemed to go dormant for about a year. As medical tests showed his lungs were slowly failing, however, his doctor delivered painful news: If he wanted to live, he would need a lung transplant. A double blow But that wasn’t all. The cystic fibrosis had attacked his liver as well. “Liver disease as a result of cystic fibrosis is not unusual,” said Dr. Ramsey Hachem, medical director of the lung transplant program at Bar...
Source: Cystic Fibrosis Worldwide Blog - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs