Shannon King is 56 years old. He had been active and seemingly healthy his entire life, so when some of his physical abilities first started to wane he thought it was just part of getting older. But as his stamina and strength continued to diminish, he knew he was dealing with more than just normal aging.
Peggy Pitts is Shannon’s mom. She knew something was wrong when he moved back to Oklahoma after living in Texas for years. “He just kept getting sicker and sicker,” she recalls. “When I got him home with me, I could see what was going on and it terrified me because he was dying in front of me.”
Shannon was eventually diagnosed with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency. “Alpha-1 Antitrypsin is a protein that protects the lungs and the liver,” explains J. Chad Johnson, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon at the INTEGRIS Health Heart Hospital. “When people don’t have enough of it, it makes them more susceptible to toxins in the environment including dust, chemicals, secondhand smoke. Shannon unfortunately had a very aggressive form of the disease.”
It became evident very quickly that Shannon would need a lung transplant in order to survive. Mark Rolfe, M.D., is a lung transplant pulmonologist and critical care physician at INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center. “Shannon got referred to us really late in his disease. He could barely walk 600 feet without dropping his saturations and becoming short of breath. But he was young and had this great attitude. He just seemed like the perfect candidate. Someone we could really help.”
Shannon’s road to transplant wasn’t an easy one. There were several bumps in the road along the way. “We got several calls saying ‘we found some lungs.’ But the final say is when they send a doctor out to look at the lungs, actually physically look at the lungs. And they would go out and check them and there would be something wrong with them. So, it was this roller coaster of ‘oh this is it,’ ‘oh no it’s not,’” describes Peggy. “But we got the call one day and they said ‘ok, these look really, really good.’ August 25th, 2024, he got his new lungs.”
Watch his full story here.
“With everything he had been through he is absolutely the most positive and upbeat person that I think I have ever taken care of as a surgeon,” declares Dr. Johnson. “Attitude can be everything in terms of recovery because if people aren’t motivated they won’t participate in physical therapy, they won’t eat, they won’t do the things that they need to do to recover and they will become very disengaged with their care. Shannon never did that.”
Dr. Rolfe agrees, “When we talk to other patients and we say let me tell you about a really tough case who’s doing awesome, we can point to Shannon.”
He recently returned to the hospital to thank the men and women who cared for him. Peggy describes that moment, “They were almost in tears and some of them were in tears that we came back, and they got to see the success of what happened - what they did. Shannon wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for the staff at INTEGRIS Health.”
Shannon adds, “The care team all through this thing has been just phenomenal. They are amazing people, every single one of them. They saved my life. They’ve given me my life back.”
