30 Days of PF: I’ve Been Given a Second Chance at Life

Photo courtesy of Curt Strickland

Day 15 of 30

This is Curt Strickland’s story:

I had a double lung transplant 18 months ago, and I am doing very well. Given my good fortune, I wanted to share what I believed helped in both my recovery and the actual transplant operation.

I am a vegetarian, and eat plant-based meals most of the time. I believe that this regimen kept my body strong before and after the operation. Three months before the operation, I received stem cell therapy. I was feeling a positive change two months after the therapy, and my hope at the time was that I would continue to improve and therefore not need the transplant.

However, at the beginning of 2020, we believe my wife got COVID-19, which was passed on to me. I started to deteriorate fast and was placed on the donor waiting list. Someone was looking after me because I was on the donor list for 2 ½ days.

I think my stem cell therapy saved me from dying from Covid, as well as another aid I utilized. I am a Scientologist, and my wife would give me Scientology healing assists, both before and after the operation. They were simple processes designed to unblock energy and blood flows. We believe trauma arrests the flow of blood and energy, which prevents healing, and these assists simply restored the natural flow.

I feel blessed in many ways, having been given a second chance at life, one that I savor so much more than before. I never realized how much I was surrounded by both beauty and love, which impel me to live a more meaningful and purposeful life. It has become somewhat of a cliché, but it really does take a village.

I still well up when I think of my donor, the life he graced me with, and when I think of the transplant team at MGH, a team that daily restores life, love, and hope.

There is so much I want to accomplish, and being graced with this second chance, I am forever humbled, grateful, and blessed.

Pulmonary Fibrosis News’ 30 Days of PF campaign will publish one story per day for PF Awareness Month in September. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more stories like this, using the hashtag #30DaysofPF, or read the full series.