Video: Starkville Man Celebrates One Year Anniversary of Life-Saving Transplant

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Starkville, Miss. (WCBI) – Exactly one year ago, we met a United Produce employee who was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, and was put on the lung transplant list. Today, Darrell Bland feels as strong as he did before the surgery, not to mention a lot wiser. Shauntay Hinton has the story.

“I’m working on a year of borrowed time right now, because I wouldn’t be here without these lungs,” Bland said.

You wouldn’t know it by looking, but one year ago Darrell Bland underwent a double lung transplant. In 2012 he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and placed on a lung donor list. The Starkville Restaurant Association along with his family helped to raise more than enough funds for his surgery, and the reaction from friends and supporters has been positive.

“Usually, they tell me how good I look, and, ’cause you know I’m getting my weight back and getting some of my colour back, and so it’s been really good,” Bland said.

Pulmonary Fibrosis was the diagnosis, and it is a scarring of the lung tissue. Without a ling transplant it can be deadly. with his new lungs Bland has a keen understanding about how delicate they are, and the proper way to take care of them.

“I try to avoid sick people, because I am on immunal suppressants, and I don’t want to catch anything. And they have kind of pressed the point that donor lungs aren’t like original equipment. If they get compromised, sometimes they keep going down,” Bland said.

The Starkville resident said the donor process was completely anonymous. The only information he knew before the surgery was that his donor was a twenty year old from North Carolina. But that didn’t stop him from showing his gratitude for the family of his donor.

“We did write a letter, a thank you note to the family. But you write it and turn it into Mayo, and they send it to the National Donor Association, and they make sure that there are no names or anything, and then they forward the stuff. ”

With his new lungs and a new outlook on life , Bland is feeling good and hopes others will learn from him.

“It’s a long process, and it’s not all fun, but eery day above ground is a good day,” Bland said.

Shauntay Hinton, WCBI News.

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, only about 78% of patients survive the first year after a lung transplant. Bland sees each new day as a blessing, and is learning to enjoy life to the fullest.