Palmer man continues battle with cystic fibrosis

PALMER — In many ways, Troy Chapman was your typical teenager.

He participated in three different sports while at Palmer High School and was the team manager for the Moose boys basketball squad.

But something set Chapman apart from his Palmer High classmates. Chapman stayed active in PHS athletics despite living with a genetic disorder — cystic fibrosis.

While he stayed in fairly good health for the majority of his time at Palmer High, Chapman, 24, has seen his health deteriorate as of late.

Now the Palmer native is living at the University of Washington Medical Center, preparing for a potential double lung transplant.

To make matters worse, as Chapman waits for this transplant he undoubtedly needs, he is doing so without the help of medical insurance coverage.

The disorder

Brandon Blake — a former coach and teacher, and n ow a close friend of Chapman — remembers the first time he learned that Chapman had cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 people in the United States, and clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatning lung infections, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Web site www.cff.org.

“I found out about it in health class from him,” Blake said. “We were talking about inherited diseases and he stepped up as this little freshman and said he had cystic fibrosis. I didn’t know much about it, other than what I was teaching out of the book.”

Blake was understandably surprised by his student’s revelation, mostly because as a young student-athlete at Palmer High, Chapman didn’t appear to be a kid saddled with an inherited life-threatning illness.

He competed on the Palmer junior varsity football squad for two seasons, he played baseball for the Moose for two years and participated in track during his junior year.

“At that time I was still pretty healthy,” Chapman said on Sunday.

Changing states

Chapman arrived at the UW Medical Center last week, via a hospital-to-hospital transfer. After spending much of the last year at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage, Chapman said he, his doctor and his family decided it was time to pursue the option of the transplant.

“For about the last year, me and my doctor have been talking about the transplant,” Chapman said. “I’ve been getting really sick really often, and spending more time in the hospital and less time at home.

“The last couple of months we really started to get this thing in the works.”

While Chapman had the opportunity to live a fairly normal life during high school, things have been all but normal for the last two years.

“It’s really hit me hard, and the last year has been especially difficult,” Chapman said. “I usually get to spend about a week at home, and then it’s two to five weeks in the hospital.”

Chapman is regularly treated with heavy doses of antibiotics to help curb infection in his lungs.

“The heavy antibiotics put the liver and the kidney through a pretty good workout,” Chapman said. “The liver and the kidney are holding up pretty strong, but the last couple years there’s been a pretty rapid decline for my lungs.”

Doctors have told Chapman it normally takes about six months to find a donor for the lung transplant, but warned there’s no guarantee of that time table.

“It sounds like they’re confident, it’s just not guaranteed,” Chapman said.

In the meantime, Chapman will wait, do his best to stay healthy and work to ensure he gains weight and stays strong enough for a surgery the magnitude of a double lung transplant.

“Play the waiting game,” Chapman said. “Try to put on a lot of weight and stay as active and healthy as I can.”

Chapman said doctors have told him he should be at 180 pounds for the surgery.

“I’ve got 20 to 25 pounds to go,” Chapman said.

Insurance struggles

Chapman is victim to a clause in the medical insurance coverage guidelines that most people probably don’t even know about.

“In 2004, I had maxed out the lifetime allowable payment for my dad’s insurance,” Chapman said.

Once Chapman reached the insurance company’s cap for the maximum allowable payment for a dependent, he was forced to apply for Medicaid. The application process normally takes about three months, and Chapman said he was hospitalized twice during that time. Medicaid is supposed to be retroactive for three months, he said, but the charges from those hospital visits have been sent to collection.

And if that is not enough heartache for Chapman, he has since found out that in Alaska, Medicaid will not cover the costs of the double lung transplant since he is older than 21. So now he looking to applying for Medicaid in Washington. But to do that, Chapman needs to become a resident of the state of Washington.

“In the grand scheme of things it’s worth it,” Chapman said. “But I prefer to stay an Alaskan. I was born and raised in Alaska, I’ve never been outside of Alaska for more than three-and-a-half weeks. I prefer to stay an Alaskan.”

Chapman does have allies fighting to create legislation to ensure those with cystic fibrosis can get coverage in Alaska for the care they need, even if that means a transplant. Ted Sadtler, owner of the local Mattress Ranch furniture chain store and an active supporter of patients with cystic fibrosis is in his corner, as his Chapman’s father John, and Alaska Rep. Les Gara.

“My dad, Ted Sadtler and Les Gara are trying to see if there is anything they can do to change it,” Chapman said. “Not just for me, they’re trying to get it written into law that there won’t be an age limit for transplants.

“There’s a lot of kids the CF that are younger than me that are going to need a transplant,” Chapman said. “It’s a good thing if they don’t need it until they’re over 21.”

In the meantime, a trust account has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank to help Chapman with any expenses he incurs before or after the transplant. Those interested in donating can contact their local Wells Fargo branch and are asked to reference the Troy S. Chapman IRRV SPCL NEEDS TR account. Chapman cannot receive any funds personally, or he is in danger of losing any benefits, his family said. All donated money left would be given to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

A fixture at PHS

Chapman’s allegiance to his alma mater did not cease when he graduated as a part of Palmer’s class of 2002. Chapman continues to bleed blue and strives to aid Palmer athletics in any way, the PHS basketball program in particular.

Although in the last few years, his illness has prevented him to spend as much time in the PHS gym as he would have liked, when healthy, Chapman is a Palmer High staple.

“He’s so involved at Palmer High School,” Blake said .”It’s unbelievable. He was there just about as much as he could possibly be.”

Chapman said he’s always been a big sports fan, and has a special appreciation for high school sports.

“I love watching the high school sports. I love Palmer basketball, football, baseball,” Chapman said. “There’s a lot of heart in high school sports. That’s what I love about high school sports. It’s not all about million dollar contracts. It’s all about beating your crosstown rival, winning state. It’s about heart. I really like that.”

Chapman was a three-sport athlete at PHS, but much of his time spent with Palmer High athletics came as the manager of the school’s varsity boys basketball team.

Chapman intended to tryout for basketball as a freshman, but missed the tryouts because he was ill. Instead, he started helping out as the team’s manager. He did get the chance to try out as a sophomore, but didn’t make the team. Impressed with his work as a freshman, Blake asked Chapman to be the manager as a sophomore.

“I said, I’m your guy. Giddy-up,” Chapman said. “I was the varsity manager from then on out. It would have been nice to make the team, but the whole time I was kind of thinking I make a better manager than a player.”

The shot

Chapman did get one chance to don the Palmer basketball jersey, and he made the most of it.

During his final year on senior night, Blake suited up Chapman and put him in the starting lineup. Chapman wore No. 12, a jersey that has since been retired, and undoubtedly his play was the highlight of Palmer’s win over West Anchorage that night.

Chapman played the first few minutes, but eventually started coughing and had to sit down. With cystic fibrosis comes an accumulation of mucous in the lungs which leads to the cough.

Blake said when Chapman was on the court early in the game, the Moose did everything in their power to get Chapman the ball and allow him to try to score.

“I ran every set play I had,” Blake said. “We were calling every play in the book.”

But in the fourth quarter, Chapman got back into the game and got his chance to shine. In the final minutes, former Palmer standout Zach Pettit grabbed a rebound that followed a missed Palmer free throw. Pettit, standing in the low post, pushed the ball out to Chapman, who was at the top of the key.

At that point, Chapman said, everything went to slow motion.

Chapman thought, should he go up for the layup?

Should he put up a little jump shot?

Or should he try to make everyone laugh and try to dunk?

But he also knew, even though, things seemed to be running in slow motion, time was running out.

“I put up a little floater, and it seemed to hit the front of the rim and it still went in,” Chapman said.

The raucous Palmer crowd went wild.

“We couldn’t hear each other,” Chapman said. “It was a huge natural high for me.”

When the final seconds clicked off the clock, the crowd spilled on to the court and mobbed Chapman.

“That, so far, is the best night of my life,” Chapman said.

Taking things in stride

Chapman is armed with a good attitude while he waits for a potentially life-saving procedure, and he’s not afraid to smile or crack a joke about the situation.

“It’d be nice if I could swing by Costco and if they had a nice big aisle dedicated to organs,” Chapman joked.

He’s confident about his potential of finding the right donor, and understands the prognosis of life with and without the transplant.

He’s just working hard to stay positive, stay active and keep gaining the weight and strength he needs for the surgery.

He keeps busy surfing the Internet, keeping in contact with friends and watching a series of Loony Toons episodes he has on DVD. He also has his mother with him to keep him company, and had the chance to visit family in Tacoma, Wash., last week.

Chapman has a private room, which he called a nice set-up.

If there is a problem, it’s the fact the hospital doesn’t seem to have his favorite drink — Dr. Pepper.

“That’s the biggest flaw. They don’t have Dr. Pepper. That’s a huge flaw in my book,” Chapman joked. “Nectar of the gods.”

But overall, Chapman is taking things in stride.

And that attitude doesn’t surprise those who know Chapman.

“What an amazing kid. All my days knowing him, in all honesty, I have never heard that kid, one time, complain about his disease,” Blake said. “He’s a young kid going through that disease, but he’s always got a smile on his face, he’s always cracking jokes.

“Amazing kid.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.