Post by son-of-tiny on Jan 14, 2007 18:17:53 GMT
Keep me away from the kids
At risk: Ivan Flavell, who suffers from emphysema, with wife Anne Marie
By Brian Coates
A DESPERATELY ill man is shunning children for fear they could cost him his life.
Ivan Flavell, 49, suffers from emphysema and is on the waiting list for a lung transplant.
Since October he has been kept from his family, who live just streets away, because he is more likely to catch an infection from children.
Mr Flavell, of Duke Street, Elland, is on constant medication and the threat of infection is always on his mind.
Mr Flavell said if he succumbed to infection he would be taken temporarily off the waiting list.
He said: "I'm on pins all the time. I dare not risk coming off the list as I would always wonder if a donor had become available while I was off."
His niece, Lisa Dalton, 25, of nearby Langdale Street, Elland, visits but dares not take her five children – Riley, four, Cody, three, Rourke, two, as well as twins Montana and Raine, eight months.
Mr Flavell hopes his plight will encourage others to join the donor register. A shortage of donors means one-third of people in his position do not survive to the operating table.
Mr Flavell, a former soldier with the Royal Tank Regiment, also worked in the carpet industry at Firth's, Brighouse, and Kosset, Bradford. He suffered a collapsed lung 25 years ago and other persistent bouts of illness. He was diagnosed with emphysema and his left lung was partly removed.
"I went downhill and was retired in 1999," said Mr Flavell.
He is awaiting a right lung transplant at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester. A double lung transplant is not possible because of earlier surgery.
"It is a high-risk operation but it would give me a better quality of life,'' he said.
"I've told hospital staff I'm going to make it off that table in intensive care. That is something I have to aim for, mentally and physically.
"The problem is there are not enough donors and I might die before one becomes available.''
Mr Flavell has already beaten the odds. In 1999 he was given two years to live. He thanked his wife and carer, Anne Marie, for helping him.
The couple have been married 20 years and renewed their vows last year. They have four children – Leanne, 28, Craig, 26, Gareth, 23, and Scott 20, who are all on the donor list.
Emphysema is associated with industrial disease and many local people suffered from it through working with asbestos. Contributory factors are also hereditary and smoking is a risk factor – Mr Flavell used to smoke up to 30 cigarettes a day.
"He has been ill almost all the time I have known him and we are now trying to bring about awareness to get more people on the donor register,'' said Mrs Flavell.
Niece Lisa, who has also registered, added: "I visit my uncle on my own and my eldest can't understand why she can't see him.''
Wythenshawe has 51 heart-lung transplant patients on its list and carries out 35 transplants annually.
Last Updated: 04 January 2007
At risk: Ivan Flavell, who suffers from emphysema, with wife Anne Marie
By Brian Coates
A DESPERATELY ill man is shunning children for fear they could cost him his life.
Ivan Flavell, 49, suffers from emphysema and is on the waiting list for a lung transplant.
Since October he has been kept from his family, who live just streets away, because he is more likely to catch an infection from children.
Mr Flavell, of Duke Street, Elland, is on constant medication and the threat of infection is always on his mind.
Mr Flavell said if he succumbed to infection he would be taken temporarily off the waiting list.
He said: "I'm on pins all the time. I dare not risk coming off the list as I would always wonder if a donor had become available while I was off."
His niece, Lisa Dalton, 25, of nearby Langdale Street, Elland, visits but dares not take her five children – Riley, four, Cody, three, Rourke, two, as well as twins Montana and Raine, eight months.
Mr Flavell hopes his plight will encourage others to join the donor register. A shortage of donors means one-third of people in his position do not survive to the operating table.
Mr Flavell, a former soldier with the Royal Tank Regiment, also worked in the carpet industry at Firth's, Brighouse, and Kosset, Bradford. He suffered a collapsed lung 25 years ago and other persistent bouts of illness. He was diagnosed with emphysema and his left lung was partly removed.
"I went downhill and was retired in 1999," said Mr Flavell.
He is awaiting a right lung transplant at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester. A double lung transplant is not possible because of earlier surgery.
"It is a high-risk operation but it would give me a better quality of life,'' he said.
"I've told hospital staff I'm going to make it off that table in intensive care. That is something I have to aim for, mentally and physically.
"The problem is there are not enough donors and I might die before one becomes available.''
Mr Flavell has already beaten the odds. In 1999 he was given two years to live. He thanked his wife and carer, Anne Marie, for helping him.
The couple have been married 20 years and renewed their vows last year. They have four children – Leanne, 28, Craig, 26, Gareth, 23, and Scott 20, who are all on the donor list.
Emphysema is associated with industrial disease and many local people suffered from it through working with asbestos. Contributory factors are also hereditary and smoking is a risk factor – Mr Flavell used to smoke up to 30 cigarettes a day.
"He has been ill almost all the time I have known him and we are now trying to bring about awareness to get more people on the donor register,'' said Mrs Flavell.
Niece Lisa, who has also registered, added: "I visit my uncle on my own and my eldest can't understand why she can't see him.''
Wythenshawe has 51 heart-lung transplant patients on its list and carries out 35 transplants annually.
Last Updated: 04 January 2007