Bob Lumaye

When he crossed the finish line, transplant recipient Bob Lumaye (center) joked with his doctors Cesar Keller (l) and Octavio Pajaro that he was more worried about his legs failing him than his new lungs.

Forty-eight-year-old Bob Lumaye knows all too well what it's like to be out of breath. In late 2002, the Indiana resident started to get winded for no reason. He noticed a constant blue tint to his fingernails and lips. Only in his mid-40s, he decided to see a doctor about his strange symptoms.

"I thought I was just getting lazy and older," says Lumaye. "But when I couldn't walk up the steps anymore without sitting down, I realized that it was more than that."

Unfortunately, he was right. A lung biopsy confirmed that he had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a degenerative condition of unknown origin that causes scar tissue to build up in the lungs until they can no longer function properly. The scarring prevents oxygen from getting into the blood. Lumaye's fibrosis, called usual interstitial pneumonitis (UIP), was a rare and fast moving version. On average, people with UIP survive about two years after diagnosis. Because there are no medications effective enough to treat the disease or prolong survival, the only cure is a lung transplant. Lumaye faced a deadly lung disease and a long wait on the transplant list.

Keller carried a portable fingertip pulse oximeter to monitor Lumaye's blood oxygen level during the race.

Lumaye was put on oxygen and on the waiting list for two lungs at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. But because of his dire situation and the shorter average waiting time at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, he transferred south, where doctors were more optimistic that he'd get a transplant in time. He moved in with friends in Jesup, Ga., about 100 miles away from Jacksonville, and kept up with a strict schedule of pulmonary rehabilitation. It took him 20 minutes to walk a mile on the treadmill, but he kept at it. Keeping up muscle strength and training his body to efficiently use oxygen would improve his chance of recovery after surgery.

"My health deteriorated fast," says Lumaye. "At first I started out with three liters of oxygen, maybe five when moving around. Right before my transplant, I was using eight liters sitting and about 15 when moving."

On Oct. 11, 2004, Lumaye got the call that two lungs were available. Dr. Octavio Pajaro, surgical director of Mayo's Lung Transplant Program in Jacksonville, and transplant surgeon Dr. Lawrence McBride, began the double lung transplant a few hours later and completed it with no complications in six hours. Lumaye spent only one day in the intensive care unit and was discharged from the hospital in one week.

With a finishing time of 2 hours, 10 minutes, a satisfied Lumaye posed with his running support group: Doug Straatsma, Keller and Pajaro.

"Part of the reason he recovered so fast was that he was in extremely good physical shape," says Dr. Cesar Keller, Lumaye's pulmonologist and medical director of the lung transplant program. "He was so committed to his rehab and physical therapy — he really took it to heart. He also was young and all of his other organs were functioning normally. That's the recipe for a very successful transplant."

After surgery, Lumaye says, he was greeted by family members telling him how great he looked. His complexion was no longer gray; his lips no longer blue. But it wasn't until he took his first walk the next afternoon that he felt the drastic change for himself.

"I could breathe!" he says. "It was wonderful. It was so nice to be able to walk around and not worry about having enough oxygen in my tank."

Three months later, right before he moved home to Terre Haute, Ind., Lumaye and Keller joked that the patient should return to run in the city's 15-kilometer Gate River Run, since he'd survived much worse.

Several months later when a friend asked Lumaye to join an 8-mile charity walk, he agreed. Afterwards he kept up the walking but got bored and started jogging. A mile became two, then four, and Lumaye started to entertain the thought of attempting the 15K that he had laughed about months before. He joined a running team that trains each year for a half-marathon in Indianapolis and worked his way up to running eight miles. When he was ready, he called Keller and told him he was planning to run the 2006 River Run in March. Both Keller and Pajaro agreed to run it with him. Lumaye's 21-year-old son Andrew and Doug Straatsma, a friend from the lung transplant support group whose wife also had a double lung transplant, also joined in.

On race day, when the starting gun went off, the small group began a second journey together.

"It was exciting to see," says Pajaro. "Just 17 months ago he could barely walk for six minutes and was oxygen dependent. During the race he was able to run a good portion of it and kept going for more than two hours. That's an incredible improvement."

Lumaye crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 10 minutes. His lungs had worked just fine, he said, it was his legs that needed to be stronger.

Bob Lumaye

"When a transplant works well, it's really a miracle," says Keller. "I told him what an inspiration he is to many people. Those diagnosed with this condition go through a tough waiting time, and some lose faith that a donor organ will ever come through. Then many who get a transplant worry that they will still remain impaired and unable to achieve the things they want to do. He showed that it does happen, it can be good and you can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it."

Lumaye is already talking about running again next year. When he comes back for his follow up visits every 5 to 6 months, he'll be able to keep his doctors up to speed on his training progress.

But improving his race time isn't important.

"As far as I'm concerned," he says, "I've won the race."

Info

Mayo Clinic Lung Transplant Program

(This story first appeared in the May 2006 issue of The Mayo Clinic Checkup, a complimentary newsletter available to anyone interested in the latest news from Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.)