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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘I Am So Grateful For Life’ Spokane Man Receives Double-Lung Transplant, Thanks Donor’s Family

Lynda V. Mapes Staff writer

As a teenager, Noel Eder wore an oxygen tank on the court as he played basketball, to fight a fatal lung disease that starved him for air.

That same determination is fueling Eder’s highspeed recovery from a recent double-lung transplant.

Eder, 24, a native of Spokane, moved here four years ago to be near his doctors as he struggled with cystic fibrosis, a congenital lung disease for which there is no cure.

By May, the disease had consumed 80 percent of Eder’s lung capacity. Even minor exertion, such as walking and talking at the same time, became impossible.

Eder spent nearly six months on a list of donors waiting for a lung transplant. He wore a beeper from the hospital strapped to his hip, to be summoned to the operating room on a moment’s notice.

During a routine therapy session at the University of Washington Medical Center May 19, Eder’s doctor popped in the room and told him he’d be on the operating table within an hour: his lungs had arrived.

The donor, a 26-year old man, had been shot in the head in a gun-cleaning accident. The man gave his heart, liver, and lungs, saving three lives. “That’s all they would tell me,” Eder said.

Out of the hospital just two weeks ago, Eder looked fit as he sat on the couch in his Seattle apartment as his grandparents, Maxine and Dan Donoian of Spokane, puttered in the kitchen making dinner.

Eder takes more than 75 pills each day to fight rejection or infection.

His initial recovery from surgery was rocky, including a full-blown infection and a determined effort by his body to reject the new lungs. That sent surgeons back into his chest a second time, to poke around and see what was wrong.

“It was an emotional roller coaster. On the bad days, I would look into the eyes of my family and friends and see their fear and how they were trying to disguise it. That was the hardest, even more than the physical pain.”

But the incision that slices from one armpit to the other, the scarring, the healing, taking medication for the rest of his life - they are mere footnotes as Eder recounts his battle for life.

It’s having another chance that he focuses on, and his gratitude to the family of the organ donor.

“I want so much to thank them. I am so grateful for life. There is an empty spot in me. I think about it every day. I need to tell them how grateful I am.”

It’s the little things Eder says he is most thankful for: “Breathing, walking, talking. To swim underwater the whole length of the pool. I never thought I’d be able to do that. I didn’t used to be able to even go in the pool because of the pressure the water would put on my chest.”

Nearly losing his life makes Eder see its value. “Everyone should be told they have a terminal illness. People take so much for granted.

Eder’s first goal: start training for next spring’s Bloomsday.

He also wants to educate the public about the need for organ donors. “I got a second chance at life, and I want to give to others.”

, DataTimes