PARKVILLE, Maryland – “Uncle Earl” got his nickname from a nurse.
“She always said I reminded her of her uncle,” he recalled.
It was fitting, because the staff at the University of Maryland Medical Center became like his family. In 2010, Earl Holt’s life changed overnight.
“I didn’t feel it the day before, but when I got up that morning, I felt kind of weird. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t get any air,” he told Elizabeth Worthington of WMAR-2 News.
He was diagnosed with a rare lung disease called BOOP, which stands for bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia.
The otherwise active, healthy man suddenly needed an oxygen tank to survive. And at some point he was told that he needed a double lung transplant.
Until 2015 “The doctor told me that without a lung transplant I would not survive two months.”
“He was a very healthy and active person. Then you get to the point where you basically can’t do any of the things you used to do. You’re basically helpless,” said his wife, Sherri.
While he waited for a miracle, he learned something new: Of the more than 100,000 people currently on the national transplant waiting list, 60% are racial or ethnic minorities. Among African Americans in particular, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease are disproportionately high. These conditions not only contribute to organ failure, but can also prevent someone from becoming an organ donor.
“I didn’t even think about it until it happened to me,” Holt said.
All the unknowns caused fear. Earl refused to be evaluated for a transplant.
“I was just scared and it almost cost me my life,” he recalls.
When he was finally convinced, Earl and his wife Sherri learned something else: the donor not only had to have the same blood type, but also about the same height and weight as Earl. At 6’5″, his options were limited. But in May 2015, they found a suitable donor.
“It’s wonderful to be able to breathe air now that I haven’t been able to breathe for maybe four or five years,” Early said, smiling.
“We can travel. We can fly without oxygen,” Sherri said. “We kept going to Disney World and bringing out the kid in us. We really had a great time and lived life to the fullest.”
And they want others to have a second chance in life too. That’s why they share their story and everything they’ve learned along the way.
Earl wrote a book called “Unkle Earl: A Double Lung Transplant Recipient’s Survival Story.” Sherri founded a nonprofit organization called “Begin Anew.”
“We provide education to eliminate the inequalities,” she explains. You can find more information about the organization here.
You can purchase his book here. The “K” stands for the kindness he received from the nurses and doctors at UMMC.
