Steve Faber is a husband to Peggy, a father, a grandfather, a brother, an Uncle, a Friend, a Kewanee Council Member, and a person who is willing to help everyone. Steve Faber’s journey to a new life began over a year ago when his doctors told him he needed a lung transplant to live. Initially, Steve resisted the idea of a lung transplant because he felt if it was his time to go, he was ready. As breathing became more difficult, Steve decided to explore lung transplantation. When Steve was live on WKEI with Sean Kernan, he told people to listen to their Doctor and start the process for an organ transplant early. Steve had a long and difficult recovery following his double lung transplant, especially because he was unable to stand or walk in the months leading up to the transplant because of how far his lungs had deteriorated. At the time of his transplant, Steve had one dead lung and the other lung was operating at 20%, with a fungal infection. Steve was told the day before the transplant that he only had days to live. He was put on the national transplant list on July 13, 2023. Steve Faber returned home to Kewanee on December 1st to a surprise escort from the Kewanee Police and Fire Departments. Welcome home, Steve Faber.
The hardest part of the transplant process is mental health. People can tell you how hard having a transplant will be but you can never be fully prepared for what your body and mind go through. Steve had good days, bad days, and very bad days. Steve suffered from depression, sometimes even extreme depression. When you have a major medical procedure, such as transplant surgery, you give up control to the doctors, nurses, and caretakers. You also experience many unknowns and frequent changes, such as the change to Steve’s medications weekly. Steve suffered deep depression each time physical therapy or the doctors told him he wasn’t ready to go home and he needed to stay in Chicago longer. Steve would say “they wonder why people get depressed”. It was hard seeing Steve so down and depressed every time he was told he couldn’t leave but it was also hard on his caretakers. Only three people fulfilled their promise to help him through a difficult time in his life. I was one of those people as well as Terri and Wanda. We caretakers had to talk to each other to make sure we didn’t get depressed because we had a job and that job was to get Steve back home to his family and friends. We had to be strong even when Steve was so depressed he wasn’t himself. Northwestern Memorial Hospital offers mental health treatment for both patients and caretakers, but we didn’t end up needing the services. Mental Health is a very important factor for the patient and caretakers because transplant surgery is a very complex and serious medical procedure. Your patient relies on you to keep them alive and well, while also providing mental health support. The hardest part of being a caretaker is having to push your family member or friend to help them get better and keep moving, even when they get mad at you. Caretakers are nurses, housekeepers, cooks, therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, drill sergeants, and friends. When Steve decided he was ready to get better, Steve worked extra hard to build strength in his legs so he could walk into the Doctor’s office with the walker…..and he did. Steve walked into the doctor’s office with a walker and left his electric chair in the hallway, just as his Doctor requested. Steve has improved by leaps and bounds in the month before he came back home to Kewanee and he continues to improve.
Steve didn’t plan to be in Chicago for over five months. He didn’t want to leave his wife, dogs, family, and friends. Peggy suffers from MS and Steve was always worried about her when he was in Chicago. Peggy stayed strong while Steve was recovering in Chicago, even when they lost their dog, Axle. Seeing how happy Peggy was when Steve got out of the vehicle made every hard moment worth every second we were away from our homes to be his caretakers in Chicago. I know I would do it again in a heartbeat and I believe Terri and Wanda would as well.
Steve is ready to get back to work as a member of the Kewanee City Council. You can see Steve tonight at the council meeting, back in his chair, and ready to serve the people of Kewanee. The council meeting is on December 11, 2023, at 7 PM. Steve said to please contact Mayor Moore or any of the council members if you have questions or concerns.
Steve Faber covered for Mayor Gary Moore for the Kewanee City Council meeting on June 26, 2023, but little did Steve know, this was his last meeting. With Dennis Packee driving, Steve, Dianne Packee, Wanda Neirynck, and I traveled to Northwestern Memorial Hospital on June 27th for pre-transplant training and for Steve to have the final round of testing to be considered for a transplant. Unfortunately, Steve fell further into Respiratory Failure and didn’t get to come home and wait for a pair of lungs to become available. Steve needed high-flow oxygen to keep his Oxygen Saturation above 90% and he was unable to stand, let alone walk, without his Oxygen Saturation dropping to a critical level.
Steve was informed a little after 9 AM on July 15th that they had received multiple offers for two lungs and to be prepared for surgery that night. The transplant team flew to Floria to retrieve two lungs that were almost a perfect match for Steve from a 35-year-old guy who died in a motor vehicle accident. When the lungs were about an hour away, the surgical team began preparing Steve for surgery and began opening his chest around 10 PM. Because the surgery was extremely difficult due to severe Pulmonary Hypertension, two surgeons were required to perform the surgery. According to Steve, the doctors told him he died when they administered anesthesia and the doctors had to quickly place Steve on the ECMO machine. Steve remained intubated for a couple of days to give his body time to rest following the surgery. He was extubated on July 17th and he began breathing on his own. However, he was unable to cough up secretions from his donor’s lungs and was intubated again due to respiratory failure on July 18th. According to the Doctor’s notes, the decision to intubate was made because Steve needed progressively escalating amounts of ventilation to maintain oxygenation. They extubated Steve on July 20th but Steve experienced a very sore throat and difficulting talking for weeks.
Steve was moved to inpatient physical therapy at Shirly Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago but was transferred back to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for a possible infection. According to lab reports, a chest x-ray on August 3rd showed a small right pneumothorax, a small left pneumothorax, and a fracture of the 4th rib on the right side. A pneumothorax is a collapsed lung or when air leaks into the space between the lung and chest wall causing the lung to collapse from the pressure. Steve was in the hospital for a couple of weeks before he was moved back to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in late August for physical therapy. By early September, Steve was taking steps on his own but he got tired quickly. Steve spent the day in the physical therapy room where he worked on physical and occupational rehabilitation.
Steve wasn’t able to attend the benefit on September 9th to help with his lodging and medical expenses; however, he was able to watch the benefit live on Facebook, and family and friends were able to say hello to Steve. Steve checked out of the inpatient rehabilitation and moved into the condo in downtown Chicago on September 26th. The first week at the condo Steve wasn’t able to stand up on his own and required assistance but he was able to stand on his own, with a few tries, by the end of the second week in the condo. Each week, Steve began to socialize more and conduct small tasks on his own, such as when he made his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich on October 5th.
On October 12th, Steve had a couple of spots of skin cancer on his scalp removed. They got all the suspected Cancer cells but left Steve with 20 sutures and an approximately 6-inch incision. The incision looked quite bad for some time but his scalp is healed and the scar isn’t easily visible anymore. On October 18th, Steve had some extra energy and decided to shave his beard and his head, of course, I had to order razers from Walmart with same-day delivery. Also during this time, Steve began to have pain in his sternum where a bump had formed. The result of the chest CT showed that the wire holding his sternum together had failed and the sternum had slightly separated, causing the bump and pain. Steve had surgery on October 25th to remove the sternal wire and three X-shaped plates were implanted. Even to this day, Steve has pain in his sternum but hopefully, the pain will lessen with time.
One of many setbacks for Steve, he has prednisone-induced Type II Diabetes and requires insulin and glucose testing. His blood sugar and A1C have normalized since the prednisone was decreased. The goal is to cease glucose testing and take a pill for his diabetes instead of insulin shots. Steve goes to physical therapy three days a week at Kewanee-Galva-Stark County Physical Therapy and Rehab Specialists.
