PATIENT STORY : FOR DeANTHONIS KELLY , IT WAS A LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO A HEART-LUNG TRANSPLANT
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PATIENT STORY : FOR DeANTHONIS KELLY , IT WAS A LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO A HEART-LUNG TRANSPLANT
DeAnthonis Kelly
DeAnthonis Kelly ’ s world started to unravel when he came down with pneumonia in 2019 and got worse when he caught COVID-19 in 2020 . Even after he recovered , Kelly found himself out of breath when he walked from the parking lot to his workstation at a steel plant .
So , in October 2020 , his doctor referred him to a pulmonologist . This lung specialist prescribed an asthma inhaler and told him to return in two weeks .
“ I kept telling her I couldn ’ t breathe ,” Kelly recalled . When he went back , a different doctor had him do the 6-minute walk test to measure lung impairment . “ My blood oxygen levels were so low that they put me on three liters of oxygen ,” he said . “ Even that didn ’ t help .” When he went back a third time , the pulmonologist referred Kelly to UAB Medicine .
The Talladega , Ala ., resident initially had the UAB Medicine doctors perplexed . “ They ran tests and thought it might be stress ,” said Kelly , 38 . “ But after two days off , I went back to work , and the problem was still there .” When he called UAB , a nurse told him that she would reserve a hospital room for him .
A gene gone awry The UAB team discovered that Kelly had a defective TTR gene . The TTR gene instructs the body to make a special protein that transports thyroid hormone and a form of vitamin A through the blood . The defective TTR gene causes abnormal proteins to be produced and build up in different parts of the body , including the heart . “ I was told that they don ’ t see this amount of damage until someone is 60 ,” Kelly said . “ My heart was so weak that it wouldn ’ t pump enough blood to my lungs , so my lungs were shot .”
According to Charles Hoopes , M . D ., a surgeon with the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute ( CTI ), Kelly had heart failure from hereditary pulmonary hypertension . “ He had a close relative who had had a heart transplant , so there was certainly a cardiac component as well ,” Dr . Hoopes said .
Hospital pingpong Kelly spent the next year in and out of UAB Hospital . He was approved for the transplant list in November 2021 and was in the hospital over Thanksgiving that year . “ They wanted me to stay , but my grandad had died , so they let me leave on December 20 ,” he said . “ They put me on intravenous milrinone with an infusion pump , along with 10 liters of oxygen .”
While Kelly was overjoyed to spend Christmas with his girlfriend , LaShonda , and his four children , he took a turn for the worse before New Year ’ s and was back at UAB . Torn between wanting to take care of his health and wanting to spend time with his family , Kelly left UAB right after the New Year .
24 UAB CTI Report