Meet Paul from Wellington

Meet Paul

Throughout his life, Paul had never been seriously ill. So, when he learned that his lung tissue was so fragile it was “practically disintegrating”, it came as a total shock.

You could hold my lung tissue up to the light and see right through it.

Paul had been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a genetic condition he shared with his brother, which would require a lung transplant.

Organ transplants are unpredictable and time sensitive. Paul had to wait in Wellington for months, ready to travel to Auckland Hospital at a moment’s notice for surgery. Thanks to donors like you, patients like Paul have a chance at these life-saving surgeries.

As his condition worsened, he relied on an oxygen tank and full-time hospital care. “I was feeling worse and worse,” he shared. “It was hard not to feel anxious about everything.”

When the call finally came – lungs were available in Auckland – time was critical. Paul had experienced false alarms before, but this was his chance. Thanks to your generosity, Life Flight was ready.

Paul recalled “The crew kept me and my wife warm and comfortable. They picked me up from the hospital, straight into the plane, zoomed to Auckland, and I got prepped for surgery at 9:00am he next morning.”

The transplant was a success, and Paul defied expectation, recovering in just six weeks.

But three years later, tragedy struck again. His new lungs began to fail. Doctors gave him only months to live. “It was a major shock,” he said.

But I couldn’t stop feeling grateful for the three extra years I’d already been given. Without your support, I wouldn’t have met my grandkids.

As Paul’s health declined, he spent months in hospital. “Hospice staff kept visiting me, and I kept telling them to find someone who needed them! I didn’t realise how close I was to death. It could have been any day.”

Then, in the middle of the night, a call came; another lung was available in Auckland. The Life Flight team sped Paul, barely conscious, onto the life-saving Air Ambulance – all made possible by you.

“It was touch and go,” he said, “but the surgery was a success. I’ve been steadily recovering ever since.”

“I couldn’t process how close to death I was, how much my wife did for me, and how many people have allowed me to recover. But here I am.”

Your kind donations gave Paul not just one new chance at life, but a second.

Thank you for saving my life, I would have been dead twice without this service. My wife and my kids are forever grateful.

Life Flight