Live, Lungs & Prosper ~ Corey W.

Please help Corey Warrington receive a life-saving double lung transplant!

Corey struggles to breathe every day – every day of his life. His days are filled with 6-12 breathing treatments a day, being tethered to oxygen, frequent napping from fatigue, and using a home ventilator at night. He doesn’t have the stamina to do most things we all take for granted. Even showering leaves him exhausted and needing rest.

Corey has severe emphysema, which is a disease where the tiny air sacs in the lungs are damaged and eventually rupture. These air sacs are what gets the oxygen we breathe, into the body tissues that need it for survival and remove carbon dioxide that can be toxic if not removed. Because these air sacs do not regenerate and cannot be healed, that means less good lung tissue he has to do these important jobs. Currently, he has about 25-30% of the lung function he should have. This number will continue to go down with time, colds, and even over-exertion.

Doctors have not ever been able to find a reason why his lungs are so diseased and fragile. They have told us, though, that when his disease progresses to a certain point, a double lung transplant will be his only hope for survival.

Sadly, that time is here! Corey needs new lungs!

He has big smiles of joy when he thinks what life would be like with new, normal lungs. He thinks about the possibility of not carrying around oxygen, being able to go upstairs without coughing, and even no breathing treatments! (He has had about 30,000 breathing treatments in his life.) Although most of the time he’s very strong, he will sometimes look at me with tears in his eyes and say “I’m so tired of this”. As his parents, we remind him that we are doing everything in our power to help him, and part of that is to see that we get this transplant going for him.

Unfortunately, we have run into some obstacles in making this happen. One of those challenges has been finding a transplant center that will take on his case. Because his condition is so unique and because he has some other health issues, he has been denied already by two transplant centers. His doctor is now looking into some of the larger, more experienced centers that will take on “high risk” cases, as new lungs are necessary for his survival past the next year or two.

Others challenges right now are logistics and finances. Once a hospital will accept him into their transplant program, he will have to be within 1-2 hours of the hospital at all times while he waits for that precious gift of life. Waiting times could be a week, or it could be a year – there is no way to know. Aftercare also demands that we remain within 1-2 hours for at least 3 months after transplant. This means two households for a minimum of 4 months, but more likely up to a year.

And then, there’s after transplant. There will be anti-rejection drugs (and a whole host of other medicines) for the rest of his life, the medical bills (projected to be around $1million before insurance), co-pays, things insurance doesn’t cover, and continued travel for follow-ups.

We are asking for your help to make this happen.

Any help is appreciated - words cannot express how happy we will be to know our son is not struggling to breathe each and every day. Even small amounts can add up to big things – like LUNGS and LIFE for Corey.