Reasons to Ride ...

FROM THOSE WHO KNOW: Tracy

My name is Tracy Schutt and I am a 34 year old kindergarten teacher in the Virginia public school system. Several years ago, I became seriously ill and needed immediate hospitalization. As a result of this illness, I was no longer able to breathe on my own and needed assistance from a ventilator (breathing machine). At first I refused, but with encouragement I learned that I could use a ventilator at night while sleeping and lead a normal life during the day.

Well, that was six years ago. I use the ventilator at night and I continue to lead an active life during the day. I have not let my lung disease keep me down. I have continued to work teaching a class of active kindergarten students each year. I have traveled to such places as Los Angeles California, Myrtle Beach South Carolina, Atlantic City New Jersey and Delaware. I have become more aware of situations that make breathing difficult such as cold air, smoking and air pollutants. Living with a lung disease such as mine really makes me appreciate each breath and it encourages me to let others know how important it is to take good care of their lungs. I have learned how to make the test of my situation and not to let my lung disease hinder my daily life.

When you have lung disease everything is more difficult. Not just the obvious things like climbing a flight of stairs, or trying to run after someone but things as simple as trying to talk. The average person can string together several sentences before having to pause for a breath. If you have lung disease you find yourself pausing after every few words to take a breath. There just isn't enough air to go any farther. Any activity can result in getting winded--getting dressed, picking up the laundry, grocery shopping. I used to sit down for a minute after getting dressed to get my wind back. I let someone else carry the laundry baskets; I sat and folded the clothes. Even that is harder than you think. As for the grocery shopping I had to be sure they only put a few items in each bag or else I would not be able to carry them. I found my kids red wagon was a great way to get the groceries from the car to my door.

When you have lung disease everything requires more energy. As a result you find you are tired more often than not. You just can't do as much as you would like. You may start out with a list of thing to do but soon find your ambition greatly outpaces your abilities. If shopping was the plan of the day I would have to decide just how much I could realistically accomplish. Everything has to be paced. What is most important? What can't be put off? What can I really do? You have to pick and choose because you have only a limited amount of time before your energy is gone and you have to head home to rest.

When you have lung disease you live life at a different pace. You do things slower, you move slower, and at times you even think slower. I would rest every afternoon just to have the energy to deal with my husband and children when they got home from work and school. Lung patients are always at the back of the crowd because they can't keep up. Everyone else walks faster and farther. I spent many afternoons waiting on a bench at a park watching while the rest of my family continued to play or walk around.

For me, all of this changed in the matter of a few hours. A transplant replaced one of my diseased lungs with a healthy one. After years of small shallow breaths it was amazing to feel my new lung filling up bottom to top. I remember my first set of pulmonary function tests after the transplant. My ONE new lung was getting better results than my TWO old ones. I have returned to a life I never expected to see again. Sometimes I think I'm still a little slow, until I walk next to a fellow patient who is still waiting for a transplant. At those times I am reminded of how far I have come and how grateful I am for having been given the opportunity to breath again freely and deeply.