Seeking new life, former Steamboat resident awaits double lung transplant

Doctors say former Steamboat Springs resident Chuck Brude has a 50 percent chance of living longer than two years unless he undergoes a double lung transplant.

This week, Brood was thrilled to find out she had been placed on a recipient waiting list awaiting final medical insurance approval to receive a double lung transplant at UCHealth Transplant Center in Aurora.

Broud was diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in December 2021 and is in the final stages of lung disease. He freely admits that his lung disease is due to being a heavy smoker for 40 years. His condition has inspired several friends to quit smoking, and Broud encourages all teenagers to avoid e-cigarettes.

The average survival rate after a double lung transplant is six years, according to Dr. Alice Gray, medical director of the lung transplant program at Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado's only lung transplant center.

His remaining health will give him the opportunity to spend quality time with his six grandchildren, ages 1 to 12. He also looks forward to walking the hills around his Buena Vista hometown, riding his motorcycle again, finishing up repairs on his Jeep, going fishing with his grandchildren and watching them grow up.

“When I try to spend time with my grandkids, I'm tied to an air hose and can't do anything,” Brude said. “I'm bringing lots of air bottles and praying I don't get stuck.”

According to the American Lung Association, a lung transplant is a major, risky operation that replaces a diseased lung with a healthy one as a last resort for patients with severe or advanced chronic lung diseases such as COPD, cystic fibrosis and pulmonary fibrosis. Gray noted that the procedure can take six to eight hours or more.

Gray said patients who undergo double lung transplants have a higher survival rate, and the procedure is more common than single lung transplants because patients have disease in both lungs. For patients with the Brood blood type, the average wait for a donor lung is four to six weeks, she noted, and the donor lung must be the right size based on the patient's height.

Broud, 56, who keeps himself busy working in construction and automotive, now battles fatigue and receives supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day. At home he has access to an oxygen concentrator, but when he's out and about he can only use each bottle for one hour.

When he is temporarily without oxygen, he can feel exhausted, dizzy and his nose and lips can turn blue, said his wife of nine years, Nancy Rudolph Johnson, who grew up in Steamboat. Last year, he suffered from pneumonia eight times.

Nancy and Chuck were best friends and dated while attending Buena Vista High School, but lost touch for years. About 10 years ago, the two reunited through Facebook and quickly got married.

In Steamboat, Brood drove a dump truck for Duckel's Construction, worked as a fabricator for a granite installation company and even drove a city bus one winter.

Brood had tried to quit smoking and cut down on his smoking before he was diagnosed with COPD. As a young man, he worked for years as a car painter, but had no protection other than holding a handkerchief over his mouth.

Officials with the UCHealth Transplant Center said 51 lung transplants have been performed at the facility in 2023, 39 of which have been bilateral lung transplants. As of May 28, the facility has performed 15 transplants this year, 12 of which have been bilateral lung transplants. Gray said lung transplant patients range in age from 17 to those in their 70s, and some of the facility's bilateral lung transplant patients have survived for 25 years.

Gray said the number of lung transplants performed in the United States has increased over the past decade from about 1,800 to 2,800 a year.

Although there have been great advances in the medical management of chronic lung disease, lung transplantation remains an established life-saving treatment for end-stage respiratory failure when other medical or surgical interventions are refractory, according to the National Institutes of Health. Technological advances in appropriate donor selection, procurement and transportation of donor organs, and reducing the complexity of surgical procedures during surgery have boosted success rates.

For now, Brod continues to attend pulmonary rehabilitation to keep his lungs as healthy as possible, and he's also lost 20 pounds in preparation for the transplant.

A friend of the family has set up a Go Fund Me page.Please help Chuck get a double lung transplant!A charity called “” was established to help cover the costs of a planned three-month stay at a nearby hospital after the transplant.

Friend Shelby Vaughn, who helped with the fundraiser, wrote, “Anyone who knew Chuck or his wife Nancy knows they would do anything they could to help anyone in need. They had such big hearts and have faced one health challenge after another. We truly need your support now so Chuck can get a second chance at life. Chuck was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend to so many and truly deserves this wonderful opportunity.”