John & His Respiratory Team

John’s first sign that something wasn’t right happened in the winter of 2008.  His father had recently passed and he was outside cleaning off some snow when he experienced chest pain.  A trip to the ER and some testing revealed he had some pretty serious COPD.  He was connected to Magruder’s Respiratory Therapy and Pulmonary Rehab Department for testing and ongoing therapy.

His Pulmonologist had him on inhalers and nebulizers, but over time his COPD continued to worsen.  He was referred to Cleveland Clinic where they did further testing and procedures until it became clear the best solution would be a lung transplant. 

John and his wife Sharon were surprised by the massive amounts of testing and appointments that were required for him to even be put on the list to receive a lung transplant. During all of this, he continued working with Magruder’s Respiratory Therapy and the Pulmonary Rehab Department for his pulmonary rehab sessions, and he was able to get his lab and radiology testing taken care of here too.  

Finally in December 2023 he was put on the lung transplant list for a double transplant.  He and Sharon received a call in February 2024 and were informed that they had found a match for John and they needed to get to Cleveland Clinic right away. 

The surgery was a success and John’s recovery was quite remarkable.  They thought he might be on a ventilator for 2-4 days, but he only needed it for 15 hours after his surgery.  They also thought he would be in the ICU for 2 weeks, but he was only there for 2 days before he could go to the regular floor at Cleveland Clinic. 

After a transplant surgery like John’s there are lots of requirements, one of which is Pulmonary Rehab. So he is back with his respiratory team here, as well as his fellow patients who like to look out for one another – and share some pretty good laughs too. 

As you can imagine, there are ups and downs in the healing process, but John has his #1 supporter Sharon and a team of cheerleaders here at Magruder who continue to not only take care of him and his new lungs, but also to help him when his spirits need lifting, and share in his joys and successes.