Frontier grad gets rare transplant
Trending
Travis Flores has never known a life where he wasn’t battling cystic fibrosis. The Frontier High School graduate was diagnosed when he was 4 months old.
“He lives in Los Angeles now. He was born here and we moved when he was 3 to Newport for a better, safer life,” said his mother, Teresa Flores. “We were told we would be lucky for Travis to see five years. We moved (to Newport) not knowing the Mid-Ohio Valley was full of chemicals.”
Due to CF, which Teresa describes as “mucus in his lungs becomes sticky and hardens in his airways,” he had to receive his first double-lung transplant in March 2015.
“It’s like a cold that never goes away and it gets worse with time,” Travis explained. “People are drawing comparisons to COVID-19, that it’s comparable to what cystic fibrosis is.”
On Oct. 3, 2017, he was back in the hospital for a second double-lung transplant.
Travis said the lungs were being rejected, but the transplant was done sooner than anticipated because his lungs collapsed.
“It was very scary because when you can’t breathe, it’s a feeling like you can’t escape. There’s no way to relieve yourself of that. It’s like someone is sitting on top of you, but there’s no one there,” he explained.
At first, he wasn’t told he would be doing through the surgery a third time.
“I was told there was no third time,” he said from his UCLA hospital room Thursday. “If the second set rejected, I’d have to get my things in order and my life would end.”
“I was obviously upset that my second transplant didn’t work,” he said.
He got the call on May 4 that he would be going in for surgery. He was taken to the hospital and dropped off at the doors to the emergency room. His surgery started around 1:30 p.m. the next day.
“The night I went into the hospital, it was emotional,” Travis explained. “I had to hug them outside the hospital doors, and when I hugged my husband, I couldn’t let go. I was afraid I’d never be able to hold him again or have him hold me again.”
He said he had to let go and enter the hospital alone, due to COVID-19 precautions. He said he woke up on May 5 and saw his family through Facetime one last time.
“Then (the doctors) put on Taylor Swift and I went to sleep,” he said.
The United Network for Organ Sharing said only 11 Americans received a third double-lung transplant from 1995 through November 2018. There are only four hospitals in the U.S. that do the surgery, Travis said – Duke University, UCLA, UPMC in Pittsburgh, and the Cleveland Clinic.
“(UCLA’s) Dr. Ardehali has been such an advocate for my life and without his skill set in the operating room, I wouldn’t be here today. A second transplant is hard enough,” he said. “With a third, it’s so risky.”
Travis said recovery this time is different, as this is the third procedure in the same spot on his body.
“It’s a lot more difficult to heal that spot,” he said. “It’s also different emotionally. I wasn’t allowed to have family with me with the pandemic.”
He said thankfully, he is close with the medical staff, but it has been isolating and he’s looking forward to going home to recover. If everything continues to go well, he will be released in about 10 days.
“He’s 29,” Teresa said. “God, he’s done so much in his life. His family has always believed he would survive.”
She said when he was 7 or 8, he was a spokesman for BACF basketball and football games. He is a motivational speaker and author. He graduated with his master’s degree from New York University at age 22 and moved back to L.A. as he wanted to utilize his philanthropic and storytelling skills to write and executive produce films for charities.
This month, he is releasing a PSA that he wrote for Donate Life, which is an organ donation organization.
He wants people to know that organ donation is important.
“Misconceptions about organ donors remain. If you are in an accident, they will do everything to save your life,” he said. “All being an organ donor does, if they can’t save your life, you will still have the opportunity to save someone else’s. Facing death is more peaceful when you know you are providing peace to others as well.”‘
He said his husband is now excited and is making plans for when Travis has recovered.
“We didn’t get to enjoy our marriage. We haven’t traveled together,” Travis said. “Our life has been the hospital and our apartment. That’s been our life.”
Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com
At a glance:
•Travis Flores was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 4 months old.
•He had his first double-lung transplant in March 2015 as a result of CF.
•His second double-lung transplant was done in October 2017.
•He went through a third double-lung transplant on May 5.
• Only 11 Americans received a third double-lung transplant from 1995 through November 2018.
Source: Times research.