About this Site
If you are here then you are no doubt aware that my father “Tappy” (aka Red Ed MacDonald) is suffering from a degenerative lung disease called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). I put this site together as a way to share information among family and friends and to help spread the message of the importance of being an organ donor.
Dad was diagnosed with IPF in December 2002. He had been suffering from shortness of breath and finally decided to get it checked out. A GP and a couple of specialists later and we all had a new acronym to remember.
Since then the disease has progressed pretty much by the book, although thankfully, a little slower than the experts predicted. During the early stages there were few if any symptoms other than shortness of breath and chest pains due to over exertion - similar to what most of us would experience if we tried to run a marathon. Later came the coughing fits; occasional at first but with increasing frequency. Almost everyone has suffered a severe bout of coughing and knows how much it can take out of you. Now imagine having these fits many times during the day for 6 months.
Ironically, the next milestone in the progression of the disease was a welcome one. Earlier this year in March of 2006 he began supplemental oxygen for 18 hours each day and shortly thereafter moved to 24 hours. With the oxygen the coughing stopped - completely. Having to drag an oxygen bottle everywhere he went and tripping over 50ft of hose running through the house was certainly no fun, but well worth the relief from the coughing. Unfortunately, the relief was short lived. The coughing returned much as it stared the first time; gradually but steadily increasing in frequency and duration of bouts. With the arrival of autumn, the coughing had returned to its pre-oxygen peak. Then during the weekend of my brother’s wedding in early October I heard my father say for the first time “I’m ready”.
He has been tenacious in his fight against this disease and has baffled his specialist with how active he has remained. The photo featured at the top of this site is typical Dad in action. Here you can see him sporting hip-boots and trudging through the lagoon at the foot of Gillis Falls with oxygen in tow. This has to be one of my favorite photos because of a) how silly it is for him to be doing that in his condition and b) how ridiculous it is that it would occur to anyone that he couldn’t or shouldn’t be doing that. It is by his very nature that obstacles are merely temporary inconveniences to be overcome rather than anything really standing in his way. Take a quick look in his wood shop and you will see countless thingamajigs that all came into being because something thought it was standing in his way of accomplishing a task. This picture captures that attitude and indeed the man.
Despite a valiant fight, he is now fast approaching the end of the battle. There is only one effective treatment for IPF and that is to get a lung transplant. That is the path he is starting down now. My folks packed up and moved to Toronto on November 4th so my father can get on the transplant waiting list. Wait times for lung transplants range from a couple of months to a year or more. And once they perform the transplant he will need to remain in the area for an additional 3 months.