John is the newest addition to our team here at Transplant Living Centers. Although he is a Rockies fan (and I, of course, am a Giants fan), I try extremely hard not to compare the two teams. He is already aware of the fact that the Giants won the World Series but faithfully wears his Rockies cap to our office every day. Since the Rockies are "only" 10 games behind the Giants, I suppose he has the right to dream that his team might have a chance at the playoffs.
John grew up in the Seattle Metro area until he joined the US Army in 1970. After 24 years of moving and working throughout the world, he retired in 1994. He and Barbara have been married 40 years, and have three children and eight grandchildren. They have lived in the Denver area since 1989.
Through his military background, John has gathered extensive experience in administrative and operational management, from teaching electronics and computer skills to writing and editing training and field manuals, from the initial concept through the Camera-Ready Mechanicals.
In 1999, five years after retiring from the Army, John found out he had cancer. After surgery and chemotherapy, he was declared “in remission” in early 2000. While in the hospital, he succeeded in his efforts to quit his 30-year smoking habit, but it was a bit too late, as his COPD continued growing.
In 2008 his Pulmonologist recommended him to the UCH Lung Transplant team. During the interview process, he was hospitalized twice, pushing his eventual acceptance back to June 2009. He was extremely lucky in that just eight weeks later he got “The Call”. The operation was completed on August 2, 2009, which resulted in almost immediate improvement.
Prior to the operation, John had been working out at the rehab center, and was only able to walk on the treadmill for a couple of minutes at 0.5 mph before bottoming out. So far, in 2011, he has participated in two 5k walks, including the 2011 Donor Dash where, in addition to walking the 5k, he helped coordinate our team and set up our booth.
He was one of the initial members of the UCH Mentoring program for Lung Transplant patients, and is still quite involved. In June, John joined Transplant Living Centers as Director of Operations and is dedicated to helping us succeed in our vision of expanding our services.
The office is much brighter when he is here and his good-natured, considerate, always helpful demeanor is greatly appreciated by me, our residents, our staff and my cat.
Contact John
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