Lakewood Ranch man celebrates with every breath he takes

At his third "lung-o-versary" party, flowers and balloons filled the home of Lakewood Ranch's Paul Dukor.

One particular balloon carried the message, "Tiffany, you are our hero."

Naples' Tiffany Ciccarelli, a mother and grandmother, suffered severe brain damage after a stroke, and thereby became a part of Dukor's life.

Dukor, now 70, underwent a lung transplant April 28, 2015 which saved his life after the gift of her lungs.

At the party, Dukor let everyone know Ciccarelli was there in spirit.

“She’s with me,” he said of Ciccarelli. “We talk to each other without words.”

In 2013, Dukor was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — a disease characterized by the progressive decline in lung function due to scarring for an unknown reason.

Dukor likened it to a grapes on a vine that whither one by one. Without a lung transplant, the disease is terminal.

“I wasn’t going to give up, but I waited so long I started losing hope,” he said. “I made the best of it I could.”

Making the best of it was difficult when he woke up coughing every morning, with tears streaming down his face as he tried to catch his breath. He focused on exercising, and maintained some work as a Realtor, his oxygen tanks always in tow. He had monthly check-ups at the Tampa General Hospital Transplant Clinic.

“Every time the phone rings, you jump out of your shoes,” he said about the hope for a donor.

He had to make sure he was always close to the Tampa hospital, in case lungs became available. In the nearly two years he was waiting, Dukor said there were at least four false alarms.

“You go to the hospital, they get you all prepped for surgery, then for one reason or another the lungs are not viable.”

On Apr. 27, 2015, when Dukor was already at the hospital for his regular appointment, a team of doctors told him they had a donor.

The next day, Dukor received the lung transplant, and started the long road to recovery.

Dukor remains careful. He diligently takes a series of medications each day, exercises meticulously and avoids anywhere he could pick up an infection that could damage his lungs. He takes detailed notes on his blood pressure, heart rate and temperature, and is wary of signs of rejection.

“It’s a life of walking on eggshells,” he said.

Right after his surgery, Dukor began trying to contact Ciccarelli’s family. After a few setbacks, he finally got in contact with her daughters and more than two years after the surgery, they agreed to meet in Tallahassee.

“It’s like I have a new family,” Dukor said. “We’re so close about so many things. It’s been absolutely wonderful.”

Although very few organ transplant recipients and the donor families end up in contact, Dukor said it was important for him to be “able to thank all of them at one time, in one place.”

Ciccarelli’s family wanted to see how her organs had helped someone and they were able to see Dukor is fully involved in the real estate business again, and also spends time volunteering with the regional organ procurement organizations Lifelink of Florida, and Donate Life of Florida, to promote organ donation. He recently gave a presentation at the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office about the importance of registering people as donors.

“I want to get other people to make sure they sign up as organ donors," he said. "You can’t do anything with your body after you’re gone.”

The mission is part of the promise Dukor made himself, and Ciccarelli.

“Tiffany gave me my second chance at life,” Dukor said. “I am taking care of it.”