Troon woman survives double lung collapse

May 7 2008 By Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post

A WOMAN will cycle 26 miles on her exercise bike – just six months after she faced death when both her lungs collapsed.

Marion Wiseman was one of only 75 women in the UK to have the crippling lung condition known as LAM.

But doctors pulled her back from the brink by giving Marion a hi-tech breathing machine — making her the world’s only woman to survive after using one.

The school teacher was first struck down by the condition, which affects only women, in 2003.

And she was forced to endure the repeated collapsing of her lungs in the years that followed as doctors battled without a known cure.

Marion, 47, revealed: “LAM basically means your lungs are full of leaks and mine collapsed twice within a fortnight.

“Every time I went for a walk after that, I had to take oxygen tanks with me and I couldn’t even hang out washing without being breathless.”

But last summer things took a turn for the worse when Marion was hospitalised after a double lung collapse.

Doctors battled to save her life as she went for a lung transplant and admitted to her that she came within minutes of the end.

Marian admitted: “I was in a very bad way and they didn’t think I was going to survive much longer.

“Eventually they put me on a machine called the Nova Lung, which breathes for you.

“But they later told me that I was the first woman in the world to have used one of the these without being on a ventilator.”

Marion, who grew up in Troon as a Marr College pupil and spent more than 20 years in Ayrshire before moving to Shetland, will now get on her bike for charity.

She said: “I’m cycling marathon distance on my bike at the local sports club. I used to cycle everyday to college at Craigie so I love using the bike.

“The money will go to LAM Action for all the great work they do and I also want to say a huge thanks to donors in general because without the donor who gave me my new lungs, I wouldn’t have the gift of life.”

To donate to Marion’s cause, log on to www.justgiving.com/marionwiseman.