Indulge me for a minute why I explain how the U of A saved my wife’s life

[Utah Ute]

Long story short …. About 7 years ago my wife and I were hiking with our 7 year old up near Brighton Ski Resort (Utah). During the hike, my wife started to complain about being unusually out of breath. The feeling persisted over the next few days and she went to the Dr. Over the next few months, she went through tests and exams to try and figure out what was going on. Finally, it was discovered that my wife had a rare lung disease of unknown origin.

Over the next few years, my wife’s lungs disintegrated like a brush fire. She went from 100% lung capacity down to below 20%. She was on oxygen all the time, could barely walk and was lucky to be alive. During this time it was determined that the only thing that could spare her life would be a lung transplant. We opted to go to the University of Utah Hospital because it’s about a 40 minute drive from our home and we are both U of U Alums. We were denied. The University of Utah didn’t want her case because of the mysterious nature of her condition. That was a pretty devastating time for us. My wife’s next choice was to try Arizona, because she spent most of her summers in Phoenix with her grandmother when she was a kid.

We were fortunate to find and get involved with the U of A’s Medical Center Lung Transplant Team and Medical Center. What a night and day difference for us. After about 7 and 8 months of consultation and rigorous tests my wife got the news that she was accepted. Last November, we got the call that they had 2 new lungs for her. She underwent a 8 hour procedure in the middle of the night with an amazing couple of surgeons. They would call me every hour and half and explain to me what phase of the surgery they were doing. Lungs are so fragile that they actually had my wife opened up her chest cavity cut while the lungs were being flown in. My wife and I spent the next 3 weeks at the U of A’s Medical Center Hospital in Tucson with a collection of top notch Doctors and Nurses. I could never repay their awesomeness. They were beyond incredible. We then spent from mid December to mid February at a condo in Tucson so my wife could undergo rehab and further testing to avoid rejection.

A few weeks ago, my wife was able to come home back to Utah. What an unbelievable miracle. She no longer needs portable oxygen, she is on the treadmill everyday building up the strength she lost and has gained her life back. My wife has a red U of A hat and I have a blue hooded U of A sweatshirt. We wear them nearly every day here in Utah. I just wanted to drop a note and express my gratitude for an amazing University, particularly the Medical Center. I spent a lot of anxious moments over the past few months walking the campus as my wife’s future hung in the balance. Beautiful campus. Loved Tucson, ate a lot of El Charro and Slomo and Vito’s Deli food (near our temporary housing).

Fortunately, we get to come back to Tucson every 6 months of so for follow up visits. Thank U again U of A, you have several new life long fans.

[uacats]

Glad we could help.

Thanks for sharing.

[EnK0806]

Thank you for sharing. Very good news, happy for your family.

[FreeFromIt]

I worked at UMC many moons ago and what you have said is the truth. It is a fine institution. I'm glad to have been a part of it. Glad to hear you and your family have been blessed there.

[Utah Ute]

if anyone has any other good local food/drink recommendations in the Tucson area let me know?

I am familiar with El Charro (damn good), Slomo and Vito's (NY Style Deli) and some Prime Rib place on River (name escapes me).

Looks like I will be down there every 6 months from now to forever.

[HiCat]

Originally Posted by Utah Ute

if anyone has any other good local food/drink recommendations in the Tucson area let me know?

I am familiar with El Charro (damn good), Slomo and Vito's (NY Style Deli) and some Prime Rib place on River (name escapes me).

Looks like I will be down there every 6 months from now to forever.

Glad things worked out. Cool story.


http://forum.goazcats.com/showthread...on+restaurants

[Reydituto]

Thank you for sharing your story with us, very heartwarming, glad to hear it is such a positive outcome so far.

Originally Posted by HiCat

Glad things worked out. Cool story.


http://forum.goazcats.com/showthread...on+restaurants

This is a great thread.

This thread is good too: http://forum.goazcats.com/showthread.php?t=91172

A little more bogged down in this board's "politics" if you will, but many good recs there too.

[azcat49]

Bear down n god bless

[pokinmik]

Nice, glad your wife is okay.

[CalStateTempe]

Thank you for your story, I'm glad everything is heading in the right direction for you, your wife, and your family.

[qwertyus]

Wow, that is excellent. Good for you and your family. God Bless.

[Machina]

Bear Down. Glad to hear your wife is better

[azpenguin]

That's awesome and I am glad you two are still blessed with each other. U of A has been among the pioneers in cardiac surgeries for decades, but as you've shown there's much more at stake than just being a leader in the field.

[2004WildCat]

Awesome. I have a simialr soft spot for Stanford University for saving my mother's life when I was a wee lad.

[Wyo-Cat]

A couple of posters here and I have a friend who played football for ASSU and had a similar experience here with a Bone Marrow Transplant. He won't admit it often, but he'll say "I went to ASSU, but U of A saved my life."