Help Brett Jennings and Family Through Lung Transplant

My name is Megan Jones. My family is asking for help in honor of my dad, Brett Jennings.

About 1.5 years ago, my dad started constantly having coughing fits, shortness of breath, and long periods of fatigue. He thought he had a bad cold, then thought he may be developing asthma. Unfortunately, when he got checked out, an MRI showed that he had major scarring on his lungs, which they referred to as honeycomb lungs. He was then diagnosed with a lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We were shocked by the news since he’s been a non-smoker for over 20 years but we learned that the disease can be caused by many things. The symptoms can be slightly managed but the lung damage from PF is irreversible and progressive, meaning it gets worse over time. The doctors began to talk about the possibility of one day, him having to be on constant oxygen or even getting him on a lung transplant list, if the disease started to progress quickly. This was scary to think that the man that at one point never would sit down... always taking care of business and helping others... would be stuck with an oxygen tank. We were believing but even when we doubted... My mom would say that's okay... I believe enough for all of you that he will be healed and our time together is not up!

It did progress quickly for a while but then started to be stagnant. He has been working and believing in healing. The beginning of last month , he went in for a check up… and received great news. They said they want to pause on getting on the list for the transplant because it’s not currently progressing and he’s doing great!

Well, with the events that have occurred at the end of September… you would not have thought we ever received that wonderful report.

The last week of September, my mom said he started coughing, and complained a little bit that his chest was tight. Whatever has been in the air has caused many people to feel bad lately… so we didn’t worry too much about it.

My dad went to work Thursday night on the 26th of September and around 2:30 AM, while driving his 18-wheeler… he decided to pull over due to feeling dizzy. He called my mom saying he was going to call the ambulance. He was picked up and was admitted that night at Conroe Regional. After many tests were done, we found out that he had pneumonia. They began antibiotics and steroids.

After getting just a few hours of sleep in a span of days… my mom finally went home to get some rest. The one night she left… his breathing got so bad, so quickly, that they had to sedate him and put him on a ventilator. She went from speaking with him... to him being fully sedated for 2 days. During that time, he was transferred to downtown

Houston, where the doctors could take better care of him regarding his lung disease. When he woke up, he asked for his family and couldn’t remember us being there at all. That day we found out that he also had staph on his lungs. After more medication… They finally took out the ventilator and lowered the sedation. We thought this meant things were getting better.

But unfortunately, each day his breathing was getting shorter and shorter. Over a week of being in the hospital at this point… he had an unexpected procedure called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) cannulation, which circulates the patient's blood through an oxygenator and then returns it to the body through a cannula. At this point they said they have decided to move him to the top of the transplant list. The next day he sat up on the side of his bed and ate real food! We were thrilled.

Within 12 hours- everything changed. His breathing got so bad that they had to sedate him and put him back on the ventilator. The nurse said he was asking her to wait because he felt he could get past it... but he finally got too tired to keep fighting to breathe. The nurse said if they didn't put it in when they did... he could have stopped breathing all together. They did another procedure to rearrange the ECMO tubing to see if that was the problem. There was little improvement.

He was heavily sedated for 2 more days... awaiting his oxygen levels to go up. In this time, the doctors said they may not be able to move forward because he may be too sick and his body would reject the organ, if he is not physically strong enough to receive it. They decided to schedule him to get an endotracheal tube. We didn't want this but he desperately needed assistance to breathe.

As devastating as all this news was... we all started proclaiming his healing and believing that God can turn everything around whenever he is ready!

On 10/17... they lowered his sedation and his oxygen levels were back up. So, we got word that things are moving forward with the transplant again and it could be as early as Monday 10/21! Later that day, the endotracheal tube surgery was canceled and they said it could now be as early as 10/19 around lunchtime. Later that same day, the final call was that he is for sure getting a good set of lungs put in on 10/19 at 9AM!

My dad is getting a new set of lungs RIGHT NOW AS I TYPE THIS! THANK YOU GOD! I knew my dad had so much more to do on this earth and people to reach with his giving and loving spirit.

A few weeks ago, life was “normal.” Now my dad will not be able to return to work after working there for more than 20 years, but not yet to full retirement. Similar situation with my mom's job... she is a little over 2 years away from retirement but we don't know what that will look like yet. The doctors are telling them they need to live 30 minutes or less away from the hospital in Houston for potentially a year.

My precious mom, that has a heart of gold, and would give the shirt off her back now has to make some life changing decisions. For now…she has to decide each day if she is going to sleep in a hospital chair or commute from Montgomery to Houston just to sleep for a few hours. What to do with her house, vehicles, jobs, dog, bills, and more. Between medical expenses, gas, hospital parking, hospital cafe, upcoming long-term stay in Houston, and the bills that don’t stop even when life gets hard… It's too much for one person.

Many people can contest that my parents, Sheila and Brett, have helped countless amounts of people, in so many ways. We are asking for your help to take some stress off my parents, while they navigate through the challenges right now and in the upcoming months. They celebrate their 33rd anniversary on October 25th. We are believing in healing, in the name of Jesus that he will be alive and recovering for their anniversary and many more to come! We know God works all things out for our good for those who love him.

Thank you so much for your help and prayers.