Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

After Lung Transplant, Suburban Judge Looks to Climb Hancock

By Andy Roesgen | February 21, 2015 4:46pm | Updated on February 23, 2015 9:01am
 Bob Senander (r.) underwent a lung transplant in May 2014. On Sunday, he'll attempt to climb the Hancock Center's 94 floors during the Hustle up the Hancock event.
Bob Senander (r.) underwent a lung transplant in May 2014. On Sunday, he'll attempt to climb the Hancock Center's 94 floors during the Hustle up the Hancock event.
View Full Caption
Tim Boyle/Getty Images; contributed

CHICAGO — Ten months ago, 69-year-old Bob Senander woke up at Loyola University Medical Center groggy, but alive, after a lung transplant. He had spent the previous four years on an oxygen tank, in failing health, and at times, without even enough breath to finish a conversation.

On Sunday, the 69-year-old will walk into the monstrous Hancock Center and climb 94 flights of stairs, all the way to the top, for the annual Hustle up the Hancock event.

And no one is more surprised than Senander himself.

"To say the least," he said dryly.

The U.S. administrative law judge from Winfield had spent a career in the military in perfect health, an "in-command" kind of guy, as he tells it.

 Bob Senander, far left, walks with four other patients who received lung transplants on the same day.
Bob Senander, far left, walks with four other patients who received lung transplants on the same day.
View Full Caption
Loyola University Health System

But in 2008, finding himself short of breath, he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. He had never smoked, and has no idea how he contracted it.

He admits to a touch of depression, then defiance. When he found himself digging through his financial records to prepare for "the end," he asked himself, "What the hell am I doing this for?" He kept on working and living as normally as he could, with an oxygen tank by his side.

But a 2012 trip to the Mayo Clinic brought news he couldn't brush aside: he had one to two years left without a lung transplant.

Even as Senander chokes up describing the ordeal and the affect it had on his wife and daughters, his military toughness shows through: "I never thought for a moment I was gonna die. I just had trust in the doctors that they would solve it."

But Senander knew he would only live if someone else died - someone who had a lung to match his body.

After several months on the transplant list at Loyola University Medical Center, he got "the call" early last May.

"It's very difficult to describe. It kind of hits you like 'Oh, this is it'.... I wouldn't let my wife drive me to the hospital. I was determined I was going to be in good enough shape to walk in to the hospital... holding my oxygen tank, of course," he said.

"There wasn't fear, because I knew the statistics. I knew I wouldn't die during the transplant," Senander said.

By an incredible coincidence, enough lungs suddenly became available on that very day that five lung transplants were done at Loyola all at once on May 9, an Illinois state record.

Senander doesn't know whose death gave him a second chance. Whomever it is, "I pray for them every day," he said.

And he had a new sense of responsibility. He became an ambassador for the organ donor organization, Gift of Hope.

"I needed to do something. I had been given a gift."

But beyond that, Senander didn't have any particular motivation to suddenly get more physically active. Any long walk left him winded.

That changed in November when a Loyola nurse asked him if he'd like to join her for the annual Hustle up the Hancock, a benefit for the Respiratory Health Association.

Without thinking, Senander recalled, "I said, 'uh, OK.'"

Later, Senander realized, "This is crazy. There was no way in the world this was going to happen. At that point I was still out of breath going up the stairs at my home. But if [the nurses and doctors] have the confidence and they saved my life, I'm gonna say yes."

Senander hired a personal trainer at the Good Samaritan Wellness Center, and started training most days on a stair climber.

He slowly built up his endurance, and tackled a stair-climb fundraiser at the much-smaller Oakbrook Terrace Tower, two weeks ago.

For the Hancock climb, he'll have a meter on his finger to keep track of his oxygen levels. He'll pause every 10 flights or so, for about five minutes, then start climbing again.

"When I go again, it's like I'm brand new," he said.

In fact, Senander said, he physically feels like he's in his 50s again, and he's hoping to run a 5K race this summer.

And he's telling anyone who will listen to get medical screenings early, get on an organ donor list, and get physically active.

The Hustle won't be easy; Senander is estimating he'll reach the top of the Hancock in 2 hours and 15 minutes. But it's an uphill climb that pales in comparison to the one he's already faced.

"It's a totally new and exciting life ahead. I don't have a date stamp," he said
 

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: