55-year old Army Veteran, Keith Phillips of Zachary, helps the state prepare for hurricanes and other disasters as a program manager with the Louisiana Health Department, but right now he’s fighting for his life. Phillips suffers from pulmonary fibrosis and the only cure is a double- lung transplant. He watched his father succumb to the same disease.
“My father he had passed away at 58, roughly about 29 years ago and they knew nothing about this disease,” said Phillips. “They’ve learned a little bit more about it and there is still a lot to do. They do not have a cure.”
Doctors say a double-lung transplant is his only chance of survival. Phillips and his wife have three daughters. His grandmother and aunt also died from pulmonary fibrosis. Phillips’ sister Cynthia Griffin is helping him raise money to help fund the transplant.
“Obviously we have a strong strain of this in our family and if the genetic testing of our family can help them find an answer for others we would definitely want to participate in that,” said Griffin.
The average double-lung transplant costs more than one million dollars and Phillips needs to raise $50-thousand to cover his expenses; expenses like follow-up care, medication, and a chartered flight to Cleveland for the transplant.
“It will be at my expense, that’s one of the travel expenses that I had to agree to, to be able to get there in time,” said Phillips.
To make a donation you can visit transplants.org and click on “Find an NFT Patient” and search for Keith Phillips.
