GIFTS Te next time back at the Y, Don had the same experience. Tis time he decided to see a doctor. When he eventually received the IDF diagnosis, the clock started to tick. IPF affects middle-aged and older adults, and doctors have never been able to isolate a cause. Te disease caused Don’s lung tissue to thicken and become stiff. His lungs couldn’t move enough oxygen into the bloodstream, which was keeping his brain and other organs from being properly nourished. IPF varies from person to person. Some people are hit quickly; in others, the disease develops over time, with IPF remaining at a stable point for years. When and how Don contracted IDF is unknown. But his quality of life deteriorated immensely while waiting for a transplant. Te regular workouts became a thing of the past. Fear started to set in as he contemplated not seeing his children marry or getting to meet grandchildren. When traveling, Don used bottled oxygen on planes to breathe. One time, when flying home from a stay in the western U.S., he could not breathe while on the plane. Te aircraſt made an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas, to get Don medical treatment. His wife, Bev, and he rented a car to get back home to Tennessee, without any luggage. As the clock was running out, Don regularly required oxygen to breathe. Doctors at Vanderbilt, specializing in IDF and who treated Don for years, were scrambling in 2008 to find him a pair of donor lungs. Emergency calls were made out to the medical centers at Duke University in North Carolina and the University of Alabama at Birmingham as Baskin’s condition became dire. About the same time, on July 9, 2008, the services of those universities were not needed. Word came that a pair of donor lungs were located, and right at Vanderbilt. Surgery took place on July 10. Doctors told Don that hospital recuperation runs nine to 14 days. For Don, however, the stay was more than nine weeks. Sepsis, the presence of disease causing organisms or their toxins that get in the blood or tissues, struck Don within 10 days aſter the transplant. “Doctors told my wife and kids that I was not expected to live but God is good,” Don says. A little over a week aſter leaving the hospital, Don started getting panic attacks. To help get him over the attacks, and other concerns, Don saw a transplant psychiatrist for about two months. INTHEVUE.COM Don Baskins and his wife, Bev, at “Te Shadrach” golf tournament in June at Rolling Hills Country Club. Photo credit: FILE PHOTO | VUE As his emotions and psyche were improving, Don says he was still showing little physical strength. He used wheel chair for four months and couldn’t get out of a chair on his own. However slow, Don improved. “I noticed a change in December 2009,” he says. “I woke up and noticed that I felt pretty good and it has gotten better since. I was taking 47 pills. Now I take 22 pills, basically rejection pills, which I’ll be on the rest of my life. “I feel great. Te transplant team is absolutely amazed I am doing so well. Tey call me their transplant poster boy. “Every breath that I take is Shad’s, and I take each breath very seriously. “I am blessed to have (these lungs) and even more blessed to have strong lungs that Shad gave me,” he said. “Before I went into surgery, one of the nurses assured me I was getting strong lungs. I protect them.” No one expected Don to return to work. He did, though, part-time about PROMOTING EVENTS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE SEPTEMBER 2014 39
