The Reporter | Linda Stein
“Max is the poster child for transplants,” said his wife, Peg Clark. “He’s done so well overall.”
Max Clark, 65, of Salford, is the first to admit that transplants don’t work for everyone. And he does have to take about 20 medications each day, some to prevent his body from rejecting his new lungs and others to deal with the side effects from the rejection medication.
During his first year, he had to have a “balloon” inserted to deal with scar tissue but other than that, he hasn’t had complications.
Clark had emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) before the transplant. With only 10 to 14 percent of his lung capacity, he couldn’t walk far and used an oxygen tank. He’d lean on a cart when in a store without the tank, trying to catch his breath and pretending to look at items on shelves.
Years of smoking and working with wood finishes and wood dust from his job as a cabinet maker had destroyed his lungs.
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