ANDALUSIA, Ill. — 59-year-old Randy McIntyre is recovering at home in Andalusia following a life-saving double lung transplant this past spring. The local man was the first in the state of Iowa to receive a double lung transplant due to complications from having COVID-19.
He first went into the hospital on January 13th of 2021. It was just one week after he had first tested positive for the virus. From there he spent just shy of one month staying at Unity Point-Trinity hospital in Rock Island.
“It just kept getting worse and worse. You know if you can’t breathe, you’re starved for oxygen. Like when you go underwater and you’re fight to get up, that’s kind of what it was like,” says McIntyre.
The virus attacked his lungs with full force, rendering the right lung nearly unusable with the left lung not far behind.
“You ever see the pictures of your lungs and your x-rays? They’re nice and dark. That’s the oxygen,” said McIntyre, “this one was completely white, so that means that’s all scar tissue in there. And this one was about halfway, but better with scar tissue.”
It wasn’t long after that he was transferred to Iowa City for further care and more importantly, a spot on the lung transplant list. McIntyre saying, he felt nothing but fear when he was transferred.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen next,” said McIntyre.
What came next was just four days of waiting before a match was found for Randy. He says a nurse came into his room to share the good news.
“She says, they found a set of lungs for you. And now, I’m crying, because I’m happy about it, and then she’s crying over there. I’m trying to dial the phone and I’m shaking so bad I can’t even dial the phone to call my wife and tell her.”
He says at first it was a matter of not wanting the surgery at all. For him, it was nerve-racking to undergo such an invasive surgery.
“You’re in denial of getting the surgery. You’d rather go home breathing first than to have to be cut wide open and take that chance of am I going to pull through it or am I not?”
Just a couple of days later Randy underwent a 12-hour surgery to receive his new lungs. He says the last thing he remembers is the anesthesiologist saying goodnight. But when he woke up, he felt nothing but pain. It wasn’t until they went to take the tube out of his throat that he felt his first moment of relief.
“When they finally took that out, and I took my first breath with new lungs, that was like comfort,” says McIntyre.
He says it was a painful recovery after that first moment, but worth it all in the end. He spent an extra three and a half weeks following his surgery in Iowa City before returning home to Andalusia. A lot of things are different for him now, including a collection of medications he’ll be on for the rest of his life.
“It's a big change because I used to love getting out in the sun and just burn to a crisp. Now it's like with that medication you're more prone to skin cancer than everybody else. You can't mow the grass until the sun starts getting down over the trees. You must wear a mask all the time, wherever you go, I mean even cutting the grass. You’re limited to go into restaurants because you don't want to be around big crowds. The kids or grandkids, if they have any kind of cold or anything, runny noses, coughs you got to be cautious around all that.”
Randy doesn’t know who his donor is, but he says he’d like to one day. It’s all run through the hospital, who told McIntyre that it’s best to give it some time. Once the family comes forward looking to meet the organ recipients like Randy then it can happen. In addition to Randy’s new lungs, four other organs were also harvested from his donor and donated to others in desperate need.
More than anything McIntyre wants people to know how serious the COVID-19 virus is. He says he had no idea how it would affect his body when he caught it, and you won’t until it’s too late either.
“It is real. It affects everybody different. It affects your lungs a lot and affects your breathing. It's really nothing to play with. Be careful where you go and think about your family too.”