Miles City Man Searches for Lung Transplant

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By Sharon Song

Story Published: Jun 23, 2011 at 7:06 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jun 24, 2011 at 3:38 PM MDT

BILLINGS - A Miles City man with Cystic Fibrosis will be moving to Seattle. He's hoping to find a donor for a lung transplant.

Twenty-eight year old Michael Lafayette would give anything to experience one thing. "I want to wake up and be able to take a huge deep breath without coughing or going on a bad coughing fit," said Lafayette.

He's suffering from a life-threatening lung disorder called Cystic Fibrosis. He noticed the severe symptoms developing during his sophomore year in high school. "I could run a mile in 6 minutes, but it got to where I could barely finish a mile so I slowly started to cut back on activities. It's tough on me, I wish I could get back out there," said Lafayette.

But the symptoms kept getting worse year after year, intruding in his life activities. Lafayette had to stop school and quit work. He's moving to Seattle for a second chance at healthy lungs.

"The lung transplant will help me live a longer, healthier life verses now, I'm sick and probably won't live a lot longer without a transplant," said Lafayette, "Seattle's average wait is 3-5 months for a donor, and they have really good success rates, so I'm really excited."

Doctors say even if Lafayette receives a new set of lungs, he could face health problems for the rest of his life.

"Lung transplant; your kind of trading one disease for another because lung transplants don't have quite as good outcome as kidney transplants or liver transplants, solid organs," said Billings Clinic Pediatric Pulmonologist Jeremiah Lysinger, M.D., "but we've had patients who have had several years of very high quality life. They've had children, they've run marathons, they've climbed mountains; they've done things they were not able to do before."

It's a chance Lafayette is willing to take. And though the journey has been difficult, he says the overwhelming support he's received from the community helps him with every breath of what will be a long journey.

Michael is keeping a video blog of his journey. You can find the link to that blog by clicking on Connections.

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