The morning of March 21, John Kocher got the phone call that saved his life, informing him that an organ donor match had been found.
He was about to undergo a double-lung transplant.
At 5 months old, Kocher was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic respiratory disorder that causes a thick mucus build-up in the lungs. Commonly, patients with CF will undergo oxygen therapy to help with the symptoms. For at least two years prior to his surgery, Kocher was wearing an oxygen pack for 24 hours a day.
"That made it tough to do much of anything," Kocher said. An avid hunter, the Wilmington resident still managed to hunt a deer with his oxygen pack.
When he was diagnosed, the doctors told Kocher, now 41, and his parents he wouldn't live to be a teenager.
As a child, Kocher never showed symptoms of having CF, but did take many medications to control the disease that didn't tell many people he had. He did, however, stay very physically active.
"I rode my bike everywhere, so that kept me in great shape," Kocher said. "I think exercise is what kept me going. (CF) never slowed me down. If it did, I didn't realize it."
In his youth, Kocher rode BMX bicycles, ran track and played football, his favorite sport to play. Now he enjoys tossing the ball around with his 7-year-old son, Joey.
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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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