News
Tennessee Alpha praises God for lung transplant
DailyTimes, Maryville, TN
The odds were certainly stacked against Brenda Sparks. She watched helplessly 26 years ago as her 44-year-old mother died of a dreadful disease that basically sucked the breath right out of her.
Then in December of 1999, Sparks, of Rockford, TN, learned she was going down that same fatal path. While doctors at the time diagnosed Sparks’ mom with bronchial asthmatic emphysema, tests on Sparks years later revealed a genetic condition called alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency. The condition results from the lack of proteins being adequately produced and dispersed in the body. It can affect the liver, lungs, or both. In Sparks’ case, it was her lungs that were losing their elasticity, making it hard for her to even take a breath.
“I was very short-winded,” Sparks explained via phone from Nashville. “Every April I would come down with bronchitis. I was 38 at the time and working 60 hours a week as a supervisor in a warehouse. I felt so bad I knew it was something more than bronchitis.”
Eventually her condition forced Sparks to seek a specialist. She said she sat at her desk one day and just asked God to help her find the right physician. She opened the phone book and called Greg Lemense, MD, at Fort Sanders.
Sparks’ daughter Christy Berry, 34, took her for an appointment just days later. A pulmonary function test was performed. The results shocked even the medical personnel.
“My first lung capacity test was only 17 percent,” Sparks said, meaning she was only able to use 17 percent of her lung capacity. “The doctor said ‘I can’t even believe you walked into this office,’” Sparks recalled.
