Rancho Santa Fe lung transplant recipients form foundation to help others

Rancho Santa Fe Review | Joe Tash

The four men who sat around the kitchen table in Carolyn Singer’s Rancho Santa Fe home share a deep appreciation of life’s simple pleasures, from waking up to the smell of coffee brewing to watching a child’s soccer game.

Not that long ago, the men would have found it excruciatingly difficult just to stand up and walk a few steps. But thanks to the life-saving double-lung transplant operation each of the four underwent, the quality of their lives has improved dramatically.

“You go from gasping and fighting for every breath, and having the sense that you’re breathing through a straw or someone is holding their hand over your mouth, to something we all took for granted — that everybody takes for granted — the ability to breathe,” said John McNamara. “We don’t take that for granted anymore.”
Read more: http://www.ranchosantafereview.com/2012/02/07/rancho-santa-fe-lung-transplant-recipients-form-foundation-to-help-others/