For recently retired store manager, Michael D. Beaver, the third time really was a charm.
The 63-year-old man had been working at an auto parts store not far from his north-central Phoenix home when he suddenly could not catch his breath and called 9-1-1. Paramedics immediately rushed him across the street and into life-support at HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center.
Twice before Michael was so out of breath that he required hospitalization to survive: Once while simply sitting at home; and another time while visiting an aunt in Prescott Valley. Using a common pulse oximeter, Michael’s oxygen levels have been as low as 88, well below the 95-100 range considered healthy.
Both previous times, he was taken to hospitals where, he said, they treated his symptoms, but not the cause of his near-death distress.
“They got me back going, but it just kept happening again and again,” he said. “The doctors at HonorHealth finally got it right.”
Michael spent three weeks at John C. Lincoln — from mid-January until early February — while doctors investigated what was wrong. Doctors there found that in addition to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Michael also suffered from Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), a debilitating condition in which there is excessive blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs.
Program directed by Dr. Jonathan Moore
Luckily for Michael, John C. Lincoln is the home of HonorHealth Research Institute’s Pulmonary Hypertension Research Program, directed by Jonathan Moore, M.D., a pulmonologist and critical care physician. Dr. Moore’s studies are part of the Research Institute’s Multispecialty Research Division, a catch-all for the Institute’s newly developing research programs.
Dr. Moore enrolled Michael into a clinical trial: TX000045-003, a Phase 2, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study to assess the safety and effectiveness of a drug called TX000045, which is taken over a 24-week period.
The result: “My numbers (94, 95) just kept going up. Everything was good. I had no side-effects what-so-ever,” said Michael, who received his final heart-lung test this month (December). “I keep getting better and better. My blood-pressure is lower. Everything is just better. I’m back to a normal life again. I’m not limited at all. I can breathe.”
Michael describes Dr. Moore as “wonderful,” and “a blessing.”
“He’s just a great man. He explains everything,” Michael said. “He treats you like a human being, not just a number. You can tell he actually cares.”
Researchers are still looking for a cause of the disease, though Michael acknowledges he did smoke for about 15 years before quitting on his own about 10 years ago.
If offered another clinical trial, Michael said, he “absolutely” would enroll: “It’s been a great experience.” He would recommend it to others, “In a heartbeat.”
