At age 75, and after nearly four decades of cigarette smoking, Barry L. requires supplemental oxygen twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and yet he says he’s feeling great and is getting better.
Finding a clinical trial to help with COPD
Diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), last fall, Barry underwent the RejuvenAir clinical trial through the Multispecialty Research Division at HonorHealth Research Institute, a procedure designed to recondition the air sacs in his lungs.
Riding his stationary bicycle twice a day, the retired Mesa peace officer likens himself to an athlete in training. “It’s like playing sports, when the season starts you’ve got to get in condition,” Barry explains. “I’m trying to get my lungs in condition.”
Using the experimental system, guided by a minimally invasive bronchoscope, Barry’s lungs were sprayed (first one lung, and then the other several weeks later) with liquid nitrogen super-chilled to -320 degrees Fahrenheit. The cold flash freezes damaged lung cells, which induces a rejuvenating healing process.
Years of damage caused by smoking
Barry, who started smoking as a result of peer pressure while in his mid-20s, always felt he was in good shape, working out and training as part of his law enforcement career.
He worked as a deputy for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for 20 years before serving two stints as a war-crimes investigator for the U.S. State Department in the Balkans region of southeastern Europe. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia sparked several successive conflicts during the 1990s that resulted in the formation of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, which is where Barry worked.
“You lived amongst the people – it was great,” shares Barry, who later served as a security officer for the U.S. District Court House in Phoenix before retiring in 2016. “When you see the difference that you can make, you appreciate it.”
He quit smoking about the same time he retired, but the damage was done.
“I didn’t know I had a problem until one day I was outside, and I said, ‘Man, I’m having a tough time breathing,’” recalls Barry, who underwent several lung treatments and took prescribed medications before being referred to the clinical trials at the Research Institute.
Positive results after the procedure
Now, Barry says he feels so good he sometimes has to remind himself to slow down, so he doesn’t overshoot his oxygen levels.
He is appreciative of all the help he’s received at the Institute and feels good about the idea that his participation in the clinical trial might help other patients in the future.
“If what I’m doing is going to help somebody else down the road, then that’s great,” Barry adds.
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