Double Lung Transplant Ironman In The House

Hi Everyone,

It's about time that I finally joined here.  My wife Leanne (canadarn2001) has been a member for a little while.

A little history about me.  I grew up with the lung disease Cystic Fibrosis.  I surfed a lot and played team sports when I was younger but eventually got to the point when I was 28 that I needed full time oxygen and all of that stopped.

I was admitted to UNC Hospital on July 9th of 2001 to get a double lung transplant or to pass away.  Well after a few close, and I mean really close, calls I finally got my lungs on September 15th of that year.  Because I had been bedridden for the last two months of my hospitalization my leg muscles had completely atrophied and I had to relearn how to walk again.

During my stay in the hospital, during one of my bad nights, I started writing out a list of things that I had always wanted to do but was physically unable to do or I had just ran out of time.  I made a vow to myself that if I got my transplant that I would complete that list.  On the top of that list was to do a triathlon.  Just one.

I ran my first sprint triathlon less than 2 years later at White Lake, NC.  Since then I guess you could say that I've gone a bit crazy.  I've completed somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 sprints, several international distances, 5 or 6 Halfs, and I've competed in 4 Ironmans (including Hawaii) but have only finished 1. 

I became the first double lung recipient to ever attempt and finish the Half Ironman distance in 2004 and then became the first ever to attempt and finish the Full Ironman distance at Ironman Florida in 2006.

I took some time off to get married to the girl of my dreams and start a life together with her.  And somewhere along the way I got her into triathlons.  She is a runner in her heart but I got her in the pool and onto a bike somehow.

Now we are going to compete together this year at the White Lake Half Ironman, the inauguaral Ironman 70.3 Augusta and then Ironman Arizona in November.  This will be her first full and I can't wait to train with her and to see her cross that finish line.

I also do motivational speaking and some counselling for children with CF on the side.  Plus I work for Setup for a lot of the races in NC.

Thanks for having me!!

Scott