EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally stated that Patrick Lessard received three lung transplants. In fact, he underwent two lung transplant procedures
It’s a disease that affects approximately one in every 3,600 children born in Canada.
Local man Patrick Lessard was born with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), an hereditary disease that causes blockages in vital organs such as the intestines and bronchi, leading to respiratory infections and other complications.
Lessard sums up his life with the disease by saying, “CF has been a physical, emotional, mental, spiritual struggle.”
Lessard says both his parents unknowingly carried the gene for CF.
The Cystic Fibrosis Canada website states that carriers of the gene do not exhibit symptoms, and when two carriers have a child, there’s a 25-per-cent chance that child will be born with CF.
As a result of the disease, Lessard struggled with serious respiratory infections and other illnesses growing up.
“I was malnourished and weighed approximately 42 pounds,” Lessard says. “CF was eating away at me.”
Lessard says his parents and doctors didn’t know what illness was plaguing him until he was nine.
“A family member from down south was diagnosed with CF,” says Lessard. “This brought attention to my case.”
Lessard, now 32, says his life with CF has “had its many challenges and trials.”
Lessard says his treatment path through his childhood involved various therapies, including inhalations, clapping, and antibiotic regimens.
But these therapies could not treat the other affects that CF had on his life.
“I was bullied because of the effects the disease had on my size,” says Lessard. “I became a timid and scared child hiding under beds crying myself to sleep often.”
In his teens, Lessard says, he turned to drugs and alcohol.
“I found that alcohol and drugs allowed me to stand up straight and forget I was defined [by my illness],” Lessard says. “I at some point started to live a life of crime.”
The CF continued to ravage his body. By the time Lessard had entered adulthood, he had only one treatment option left.
“In 2006, at age 20, I was faced with but one treatment option,” says Lessard. “I was to receive a bilateral double-lung transplant.”
Lessard says the successful transplant changed his outlook on life.
“I was on the list for a short time and everything took well,” says Lessard. “I could breathe and felt ready to take on the world.”
While he no longer had to undergo inhalation and clapping therapies, he still had pills to take, but this didn’t slow him down.
“I went got myself a job and began to live life to its fullest.”
Unfortunately, things took a turn once again in 2009 and he had to return to Toronto for treatment.
“I got an infection that spread like wildfire, destroying my lungs,” Lessard says. “My mother wandered the streets of Toronto looking for a place to live, I had become that sick that suddenly.”
Lessard says he needed another transplant. After several months of treatment and waiting, the transplant seemed to go off without a hitch.
Unfortunately, Lessard was not able to reverse his drug or alcohol addiction.
“My mental state began to really struggle at this point,” says Lessard. “The anxiety I had was crippling. I was medicated for severe depression and anxiety.”
To make matters worse, Lessard says, two weeks after his second double-lung transplant, he started to experience complications.
“Oxygen dropping below the 50s, doctors doing test and finding no signs of rejection or infection,” Lessard says. “They turned to me and said, ‘We don't know what to do.’”
“Facing death again, I became very hopeless. I looked at my mother and said my goodbye. At that moment, I had became physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually broken.”
It was not the end for Lessard though. Doctors treated him with medication and put him on a ventilator as though the lungs were being rejected and that reversed the effects.
He still carries those lungs today.
Now, he’s looking to help others experiencing what he’s gone through.
“I would like to bring awareness to the mental health of those with CF,” says Lessard. “The struggle is real and the struggle is felt by many.”
Patrick participated in the Yves Joanisse Memorial Pubb Putt on Apr. 14, put on by the Kinsman and Kinette Clubs of Timmins.
“It was a truly joyous event from start to finish,” says Lessard. “In total with everyone we raised over $15,000 for CF.”
His next step in his quest to bring awareness to CF is the CF Radio Day in Kirkland Lake on Saturday with the Kirkland Lake Kinsman Club.
“From 7 a.m. until 5 or 6 p.m., we will be on the air,” says Lessard. “There will be phones set up to receive call in donations.”
Most importantly, Lessard says, it’s an opportunity to talk about a disease that Lessard feels needs more attention.
“We’ll talk about CF,” says Lessard. “It is a day to spread awareness.”
