A NEW CHANCE AT LIFE; TWO TO DONATE LOBES OF LUNGS TO 10-YEAR-OLD.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

With precious time ticking away on 10-year-old Jordy Carper's life, the rejection of three potential lung donors eroded his mother's faith that he would overcome cystic fibrosis.

Doctors had eliminated Jordy's mother, grandmother and school guidance counselor as potential donors for the only treatment that could spare his life, a special lung transplant.

What little hope survived in Jordy's mother, Missy Carper, had begun to dissolve into despair.

But that was before Carper talked with Jordy's cousin Debbie Schoenadel - and before family friend Vicki Koher called to say she was ready to help.

Today, Schoenadel and Koher are each expected to donate a section of a lung called a lobe in a bid to give Jordy a shot at a normal life.

``It is pretty incredible,'' Carper said Wednesday, the eve of her son's expected transplant at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. ``Of course we are very grateful for them.''

Koher, who befriended Jordy just three months ago when he and his mother were visiting West Virginia's state capital, said she had few reservations about going through with the donation.

``I think Jordy deserves a second chance and should find out what it's like to be able to breathe,'' Koher, 40, said matter-of-factly.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that attacks the lungs, causing them to secrete a thick mucus which can cause infection and eventually lead to death by suffocation. Jordy was given less than a year to live, and most people with the disease die before 30 unless they have a transplant.

With a transplant, however, Jordy's chances of living a normal life are good, hospital officials say.

About 75 percent of the recipients survive the first year after the surgery, with infection and organ rejection reducing the survival rate by 5 percent each year after that, said Monica Horn, hospital transplant coordinator.

Today, lobes will be removed from Schoenadel and Koher and driven by ambulance from USC University Hospital to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. There they will be swapped with Jordy's diseased lungs during a four-hour operation.

Schoenadel's decision to donate was a relatively easy one. She had watched helplessly as her husband died of lung cancer last year after waiting for a lung transplant donor.

``She felt: How could she not?'' Carper said.

Koher's offer arose after she met Jordy and his mother in Charleston, W.V., where the two spent a day testifying before legislators to raise awareness about cystic fibrosis. A 40-year-old chemical plant worker, Koher grew fond of Jordy during that visit and stayed in touch with the mother and her ailing son, who live in Hedgesville, W. Va.

So when doctors determined last week that Jordy's elementary school guidance counselor was the third candidate not suitable to be a donor, Koher told Carper she would take his place.

``He is a great kid,'' Koher said.

After the nearly four-hour operation to remove the lobe, Koher and Schoenadel will spend a day in the intensive care unit and five to 21 days in the hospital.

Although Koher and Schoenadel will lose about 18 percent of their lung capacity, they probably won't notice any difference, Horn said.

The doctor performing the transplant will be Vaughn A. Starnes, a world-renowned specialist who has done about 60 such operations in the four years since the procedure was pioneered.

He is the same heart and lung specialist who repaired actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's ailing heart valve.

Horn said everyone has high hopes for Jordy.

``Every year there are new medicines and new techniques that are developed to prolong life,'' Horn said. ``We hope that is what will happen.''

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PHOTO Jordy Carper, 10, and his mother, Missy, wait Wednesday for him to get a transplant today.

David Sprague/Daily News