New Lungs Give Lincoln Man A 'New Lease On Life'

Heather Penick is feeling a lot better since she returned to Lincoln permanently in late January after receiving a double living-donor lung transplant at Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis on Oct. 5, 2000.

Her husband and her uncle donated parts of their lungs to replace Penick's lungs damaged by cystic fibrosis. There have been ups and downs since, said Al Doeden, Penick's stepfather. The latest hurdle has been the narrowing of her bronchial tubes.

In addition to continuing rehabilitation at Saint Elizabeth's Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center three times a week, Penick has been going up to Minneapolis every two to three weeks to receive treatment to keep her bronchial tubes open.

"They want to narrow because of scar tissue," Penick said Tuesday. "But eventually, they'll stay open."

Brad Kennedy grew up playing soccer and tennis, biking, skiing and swimming in the suburbs of Colorado - activities he continued into his 30s.

At 38, the father of 6-year-old twins credits his active lifestyle and positive outlook for helping him outlive the average person with cystic fibrosis by about 10 years.

Kennedy, who moved to Lincoln from Colorado in 1992 to join his wife who teaches at Cheney Public Schools, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 3 weeks of age. He battled for breath all his life as one of about 30,000 Americans with the genetic disease that attacks the lungs and digestive system. He fought the thick, sticky, lung-clogging mucus until last month.

On May 11, Kennedy got a double lung transplant at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver through an organ donor. He chose the center because he had gone there for years growing up in the area.

"I feel like I have a new lease on life now," Kennedy said from his Denver hospital room.

His wife, Kerry Kennedy, said he was breathing every breath and loving it.

"I've never ever been able to breathe in this deep," she recalled him telling her.

Kennedy had breezed through the six-hour surgery, was off the ventilator in 20 hours and was released in eight days to a nearby apartment to continue rehabilitation. But a bout of rejection had put him back in the hospital for a few days.

Despite being hooked up to six IVs carrying anti-rejection and anti-infection drugs, Kennedy seemed in good spirits and said he looked forward to coming home in July and playing tennis with his sons.

That doesn't surprise Pat Mooberry, president of the Cotner branch of Home Real Estate, who has known Kennedy for years as a part-time real estate agent.

"It's unbelievable," Mooberry said. "He's a really positive, optimistic guy. . . .He's just a real family man. He has two twin boys and they follow him everywhere. The thing that's remarkable about him is that he had a near terminal disease and he was able to keep a positive outlook on life and spent a lot of time with the twin boys and had a great sense of humor."

Reach Theresa Cha at 473-7228 or tcha@journalstar.com.

Copyright © 2001 Lincoln Journal Star.

This article posted June 16, 2001.