'New Lungs for George' now a reality

By John Balentine |Keep Me Current News

NEW GLOUCESTER - New Gloucester firefighter George Carman, the namesake of the New Lungs for George campaign, is amazing doctors with his speedy recovery following double lung transplant surgery last week in New York City.

After a lifetime struggling with decreased lung capacity as a result of his battle with cystic fibrosis, Carman, 44, has an "excellent new set of lungs" and is in "great condition" following a 9-hour surgery that took place Feb. 3 at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan, according to the campaign's spokesman, Scott Doyle.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that affects about 30,000 people in the United States. It leaves the sufferer struggling for air due to thick mucus build-up in the lungs. Gradual build-up also affects other organs such as the pancreas, which impacts the digestive system.

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the average life span of a CF sufferer was 37.4 years in 2008, up from 32 years in 2000 and two years in the 1950s. Advancements in care have allowed those with CF to live longer and more productive lives. A lung transplant doesn't cure CF since the sufferer may carry the gene that causes the disease in other cells, but new lungs can make breathing much less difficult and help the sufferer avoid respiratory issues that can lead to lung disease and sickness.

Carman, however, has not let the cold, hard facts of the disease hold him back. Over the years, Carman has beat the odds and even managed to run for his high school track team. He is married, has a daughter and has served as a firefighter for 22 years, including 20 in New Gloucester. He isn't allowed to enter burning buildings due to respiratory concerns, but he has played nearly every support role in the department.

Carman's high spirits despite his ongoing physical maladies have inspired others, but by last fall, he had lost much of his lung capacity and at the time of the surgery was down to 19 percent. Carman qualified for the transplant surgery in September when his lung capacity dwindled to 25 percent. Carman's lung capacity had to reach the threshold before his insurance company would pay for the surgery. The transplant organs were made possible through the United Network of Organ Sharing.

According to Doyle, doctors who operated on Carman last week said Carman's old set of lungs were "long overdue to be replaced. They should have come out six months ago." In fact, Carman had spent much of the last four months at Maine Medical Center due to health problems associated with the diminished lung capacity and fluid build-up.

Carman will have to stay close by the New York hospital for months and maybe even up to a year, Doyle said. Despite the long recovery period, Carman's family and friends are overjoyed with the transplant's success.

"George took his first walk (Tuesday). His wife, Amy, said, ‘Oh my God, he could walk all day long. We had to make him stop. He's definitely pushing the walking envelope,'" Doyle conveyed.

Doyle said the Carmans had been waiting for several months after qualifying for the donor list knowing that when the all-important call came in that a donor had been found that they would have to charter a private plane to New York City for surgery. That call, finally, came at around 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2, during a bad snowstorm that dumped nearly a foot of snow in Maine. Air travel to New York City was impossible, so the Carmans and a medical team traveled via ambulance to New York City. The ambulance left Maine Medical Center at 9:50 p.m. and arrived at Columbia at 3:36 a.m. By 10 a.m., Carman was being prepped for surgery, which began at 1 p.m. and ended at 10 p.m.

Amy Carman, Doyle said, rode in the ambulance along with her husband. Her sister-in-law, Connie Oliver, flew to New York City to be by her side.

Post-surgery, Doyle said, Carman is settling into his hospital room, which has a "gorgeous view of the New York skyline and the Empire State Building." Doyle said Carman had a lung biopsy on Tuesday and doctors reported that there were no concerns.

Regarding post-surgery pain, Doyle said Carman was at a 9 out of 10 after the surgery, but as of Tuesday was down to a 2.

Doyle said the New Lungs For George campaign has raised more than $200,000 for costs associated with the surgery since the group's inception in 2004. Much of that money will go toward post-surgery-related expenses, such as paying for an apartment in New York. Carman will also have to report to the hospital for follow-up exams for the rest of his life.

"We're still taking donations, simply because we don't know what's going to happen. We want to make sure his bills are covered," Doyle said.

Any funds that aren't utilized directly by Carman will go into a new fund, New Lungs for ME, which, Doyle said, Carman wants to set up for patients suffering from cystic fibrosis.