Evin Green

Double Lung Transplant Recipient, 2015 Vita Redita speaker

Evin Green suffered with Cystic Fibrosis. In 2014, he received a double lung transplant at UM Hospital. Evin has been chronicling his journey through his blog, TransplantedDad.Blogspot.com. One year after his transplant, Evin was back to making appearances as his favorite superhero, Spiderman, including a visit to UM’s Camp Michitanki. His energy and enthusiasm for life and for the gift of life he received from his donor imbue everything Evin does. He shares this reflection on his journey.Evin was the speaker at the Transplant Center’s 2015 Vita Redita Gala & Auction held at UM Stadium on October 24, 2015. His ten-minute talk was heartfelt, funny, and warmly received. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Evin's story, in his own words:

     Colors swirled in a kaleidoscope that only I could see.  Whenever I closed my eyes, the hues would shift and change.  As the experience continued, animals emerged from the colors:  A charging gray rhino, several yellow jungle cats.  Later, the images bursting from the colors were of my son and nephews sharing rainbow candies.  These hallucinations were the most interesting aspect of my recovery following a bilateral lung transplant at University of Michigan Hospital in August, 2014.  

     Induced by the litany of medications I was on to keep my body healthy while minimizing the pain, the visions only occurred when I closed my eyes, which kept me from sleeping.  I assumed (incorrectly) that wearing a sleep mask would eliminate the problem.  When I asked the nurse for one, he supplied it with remarkable speed as if he’d been anticipating my request.  When it didn’t help at all, he gave me some simple but remarkably effective advice:  “Keep your eyes open until you fall asleep—and then if that doesn’t work, just go with it.”

Evin Green before and after double lung transplant
Evin Green before and after his double lung transplant

      Looking back, “just go with it” became somewhat of a mantra for the rest of my 20-day stay, split between the ICU and the main floor.  Few stories capture this better than when my nurse had to clear a blockage in the feeding tube that was placed into my stomach through my nose due to my swallow being too weak to eat.  I saw him put a can of Diet Coke on a table.  Perhaps he was thirsty, I thought.  Then I watched him draw some up in a syringe.  Odd, but far be it from me to tell someone how to consume a beverage.  Then he walked up to me with it and explained that this was the most effective way to clear the blockage.  I decided to “just go with it,” and he injected the fizzy brown liquid into the tube.  The blockage was removed, and I could “eat” again.

Evin performs as Spiderman at 2015 Camp Michitanki
Evin, dressed as Spiderman, entertaining transplant recipient kids at Camp Michitanki in 2015.

      The day I left the hospital, my wife wheeled me out to the spot where she could bring our van around.  I sat there enjoying my first moment outside in three weeks and a thought struck me:  the last time these lungs took a breath of fresh air, they belonged to someone else.  When the full reality of it hit me, I vowed never to lose sight of the magnitude of the gift my donor gave me or the loss my donor family will feel forever more.  Nothing I can do will ever replace the son, daughter, brother, or sister who left this earth too soon, but I can pay tribute to my donor and the donor’s family through the life I live.   

      Since the transplant, I have resumed doing many of the things I was able to do prior the day Cystic Fibrosis furthered its progression to the point that it rendered my lungs incapable their former “glory”-- I use that word loosely because I'd been hovering around 30 percent lung function for several years prior to needing a transplant.  After a little over a year on the waiting list, constantly tethered to a nasal cannula providing supplemental oxygen, even doing something as mundane as putting on my socks without getting wrapped up in a cord made me grateful.  At my nephew’s birthday party less than a year after my transplant, my son’s balloon got away from him.  Before he could respond, a steady breeze and helium prepared to take it into the next county.  But I took off running, and with a leap thrown in for good measure, captured the balloon’s string.  I can now run like the wind, and able to be the sort of father and husband that I've always wanted to be.

      I am also returning to another role that the need for a transplant temporarily took from me.  My ten-year career as a teacher was put on hold in February of 2013, but now I am back in the classroom, part time, teaching English—the job I knew I wanted since I was in tenth grade. 

Evin performs as Spiderman at 2015 Camp Michitanki
Evin loves to perform as Spiderman.

      I will make the most of my second chance at life by squeezing the most out of every opportunity, and by never missing a chance to express the unending gratitude I feel toward all of the people who have buoyed me to this point—my family, friends, colleagues, medical professionals, and even strangers who've learned of my story through my writing or when I have spoken on behalf of Gift of Life Michigan, and in October, 2015 at the UM Transplant Center’s Vita Redita Gala & Auction. 

     I thank every one of them for being in my corner.  I will continue to “just go with it,” and always take my gratitude with me.

-Evin Green

 

Evin and son dressed in Spiderman costumes
Evin Green enjoying time with his son in their favorite costumes.