Dennis Trumbach’s widow, doctor discuss pulmonary fibrosis
As though there aren’t enough reasons already for smokers to kick the habit… tonight there is one more. It’s called pulmonary fibrosis and while there aren’t any statistics to say how many lives have been claimed in Belize, it does exist. Persons at risk of developing pulmonary fibrosis are smokers, those who work with wood, are exposed to certain chemicals such as asbestos, silica, formaldehyde and even bagasse. Figures in the U.S. are that two hundred thousand people a year are diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, with forty thousand losing their lives each year. One local family which knows too well the damage the lung disease can wreak is that of Dennis Trumbach. Trumbach was diagnosed in 2007 and this Friday will mark one year since the sixty year old passed away from complication of the disease. In his memory and also to bring awareness to pulmonary fibrosis, his family is holding an evening of Jazz at the Black Orchid Resort. Today his widow and doctor stopped by Channel Five, to spread the word about the disease.
Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Intensivist
“Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition of the lung where the lung tissue becomes scarred. Instead of being a sponge like material, it becomes hard and stiff and it loses the capacity that it was designed for; to transport oxygen from the air into your blood stream. So in other words, you get a damaged lung over time.”
Linda Munoz, Widow
“When we first heard that he had pulmonary fibrosis, we were actually relieved that it was not cancer, because there is so much awareness on cancer and we know you have the radiation treatment. But we felt that this was something we could cope with. Because there was not a spectrometer machine, we had to go to Merida for the spectrometry test which confirmed Dr. Cuellar’s diagnosis. Even at that point, we did not realize it was terminal, the only option at the point where he was diagnosed was lung transplant.”
Kendra Griffith
“What are the symptoms? How do you know that you have this?”
Dr. Fernando Cuellar
“The basic common ones we see is shortness of breath, just a little more than you would expect. Sometimes people would complain of shortness of breath, but say it’s because of being overweight or not exercising but overtime they realize that this is a little more short-winded than they are supposed to be. Another common symptom is a cough, a constant, dry, hacking cough that does not have much mucus production. And there are other things like headaches, general feel bad, losing weight, but the cough and shortness of breath are perhaps the two primary symptoms.”
Linda Munoz
“We found out that persons involved in the woodworking trade, in furniture making are exposed to it and there is the idiopathic where there is no identifiable cause of that. So as a result of that, we want to remember him, the person he was. He was one of Belize’s first guitarists, he was well-known by very many people up and down the country, for teaching them guitar or playing guitar with them or accompanying them on the guitar. His trade was in the lumber business. It is not a fundraiser, it is just an invitation to celebrate his death. Food and drinks will be on sale and Nelita Castillo, who he accompanied when he was a young guitarist and very good friend of Nelita, will be performing Latin Jazz music similar to what we had at the governor house two weeks ago. So we would like to invite the public.”
There is no cure for pulmonary fibrosis. To find out more about the disease, visit the website www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org.
