Shortly after a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis, Kevin Beale ended up in ER. His lung disease was progressing at such a pace that transplant had become the only option. Kevin and the UVA Health transplant team describe their journey together. Find out more at: https://uvahealth.com/services/transplant Transcript KEVIN BEALE: My name is Kevin Beale, 64 years old. I live in Richmond. I've gone to my general practitioner because I was low on energy. My wife told him I had a cough, so we went and had a chest x-ray. My pulmonologist came in and gave us a bad news that I had pulmonary fibrosis and it was not good. We were just totally blown away. Thursday night I had a breathing episode and ended up in the ER. CHRISTOPHER SCOTT, MD: Mr. Beale presented with the most common cause of chronic lung disease leading to lung transplant in the United States, being restrictive lung disease. He presented quite urgently, so there was not a lot of time to pursue other non-transplant options for him. However, when he arrived at UVA we were able to do some things to buy him extra time to be able to expedite his inpatient workup. HANNAH MANNEM, MD: It was quite a shock to him, the word transplant even. He wasn't really aware that that was something he was going to need in the short-term interval. So I met him basically having that discussion with him, that you have a lung disease that's fatal and there's not a lot of treatment. And unfortunately, your disease is progressing at a pace that if we don't move fast, may outpace your ability to be able to get a lung transplant. KELLY FREDGREN: He did really well coping with all of that. And his wife and children were very supportive of him. And he managed to get through that whole phase emotionally, come out on the other end knowing that he did want a transplant and was happy that he got listed. KEVIN BEALE: That Friday I was listed, that was the start of my journey. CHRISTOPHER SCOTT, MD: The unique challenges that we face during Mr. Beale's procedure revolved around the severity of his lung disease and how it was affecting his heart. So in this particular case, we made the decision very early on in his surgery to go on cardiopulmonary bypass and we were able to successfully perform the implantation of both lungs, weaned successfully off of cardiopulmonary bypass, and he made a nice recovery afterwards. Astonishingly, he only spent 11 days in the hospital and was discharged home after that. KEVIN BEALE: The entire transplant team has been wonderful. I got a call from one of the nurse practitioners every single day asking me how I'm doing, is very comforting. RACHEL ANDERSON, MSN, RN, ACSP: Getting to know people in their darkest of hours and their hardest of times, and being given the privilege of being in their lives during that difficult journey, has its own reward. KEVIN BEALE: When I was on oxygen, we live in a two-story house and we had a concentrator upstairs and one downstairs, and I took a small bottle of oxygen from my bedroom to get downstairs. Now I've been going to PT for three days, playing pickleball, hitting on the ball machine, walking two to three, four miles every other day. HANNAH MANNEM, MD: When you look at his lung function, it is back to completely normal of what it would be in someone his age without any lung disease. He's done exceptionally well, a lot of which I give credit to the medical team, but also to him and his family and the dedication they've put into just being a great patient and being really invested in his care. KEVIN BEALE: I was very lucky and obviously got a great set of lungs, and working at keeping them going ever since. RACHEL ANDERSON, MSN, RN, ACSP: Being a part of people's stories that you've never even met before and then getting to see them transition is what really makes a difference. Transplant changes everything.