MaryAnne BrooksI turn 67 this March. Two years ago I went to my doctor’s office and was told that I needed a lung transplant. I suffer from Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease (COPD), and emphysema.

In 1999, after countless doctor’s visits, I was diagnosed with COPD and the doctors told me that the worse case scenario would be a lung transplant. They knew that I quit smoking in December of 1997 so there wasn’t much more that I could do to improve my health on my own. As time went on my health progressively got worse. I went from using oxygen when I needed it to help me breathe better, to needing it all the time – I am now permanently attached to my oxygen cord. The change happened almost overnight.

That day in the doctor’s office, after he gave me the bad news - the worst possible case scenario, he reviewed my chart and asked me how old I was. I had just turned 65. He told me that 65 is the insurance cut off age for a lung transplant. I began to cry, I couldn’t have imagined that it would be this bad. There was nothing more the doctor could do for me. If I were rich I could go to another country and have the operation, but that is not an option for me.