MOTHER IS HIS HERO; SWEENEY THANKFUL FOR `MIRACLE WOMAN'.Byline: Chris Cocoles / Daily News Staff Writer Brian Sweeney Brian Edward Sweeney (born 13th June 1974 in Yonkers, New York) is a baseball pitcher for the Japanese Nippon Ham Fighters franchise. After making his debut with the Mariners in 2003, Sweeney moved to San Diego in 2004 and then signed with Japan's Hokkaido Nippon Ham has been a success in his first professional season, but his mother Phyllis might be the biggest winner of all. Eighteen months after receiving a double-lung transplant, Phyllis and her husband, Edward Sweeney, now sit in the stands at Lancaster Municipal Stadium to watch their son play for the JetHawks. ``You're looking at a miracle woman,'' Edward Sweeney said while pointing to his wife, once kept alive by oxygen tanks and a heart and lung machine. Brian looked into the stands several times to see if he was dreaming. ``What happened to us has changed my life forever,'' Brian Sweeney said a day after he suffered a loss in relief at High Desert. ``You keep losses in perspective. If I had half the heart she, has I could do anything. Everything I'm doing right now is a bonus.'' In 1993, Phyllis Sweeney, then 57, was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis Idiopathic interstitial fibrosis of lung Pulmonology An idiopathic condition characterized by scarring and fibrosis of alveolar septae more common in middle-aged men, possibly related to collagen vascular disease, with positive , or hardening of the lungs. While most cases are as a result of years of smoking, her illness was among a number of unknown causes. The Sweeneys withheld the severity of Phyllis' condition to their two daughters, Christine and Karen, and Brian, who was living at the family's Yonkers, N.Y., home while playing baseball at Mercy College Mercy College can refer to:
``They didn't tell us everything. I just thought, `She's sick. She'll get over it,' '' said Brian Sweeney, who is 5-2 with the JetHawks. ``But she just kept falling apart.'' Phyllis Sweeney's daily chores became impossible to fulfill. Even breathing was difficult. Brian, now 23, concentrated on baseball and schoolwork, but it wasn't easy. ``There were times when I didn't want to go home. When I had a bad day pitching or hitting (he played some third base at Mercy), I'd come home and see her have to be carried up the stairs. A lot of nights I cried myself to sleep,'' Brian said Brian Said (born May 15 1973 in Valletta, Malta) is a professional footballer currently playing for Sliema Wanderers in the Maltese Football League, where he plays as a defender. External links
As Phyllis' condition worsened, her chances of receiving a lung transplant lung transplant Surgery Transplant of a lung allograft into a Pt with failing lungs; 90 US centers perform LT; 35 centers perform ≥ 10/yr Mean wait time 18 months Indications COPD–eg, emphysema due to α1 also deteriorated. She required three liters of oxygen per minute to breathe. ``It's not like a heart transplant heart transplant Procedure to remove a diseased heart and replace it with a healthy one from a legally dead donor. The first was performed in 1967 by Christiaan Barnard. . The sicker you are the less priority you have,'' Phyllis Sweeney said. She consulted a Yonkers doctor but received a sobering conclusion. ``He all but said, `There's nothing we can do for you' '' The turning point was Phyllis being sent to Dr. Maria Padilla Maria Padilla is a melodramma, or opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Gaetano Rossi and the composer wrote the Italian libretto after François Ancelot's play. It premiered on May 19, 1842 at La Scala, Milan. at Mount Sinai Hospital Mount Sinai Hospital can refer to:
Padilla recommended the University of Pennsylvania (body, education) University of Pennsylvania - The home of ENIAC and Machiavelli. http://upenn.edu/. Address: Philadelphia, PA, USA. Medical Center in Philadelphia, where the Sweeneys were added to a waiting list for a donor. The process took 33 agonizing months. To stay eligible for a transplant, the patient must walk 600 feet in less than six minutes. By January 1996, Phyllis barely covered the distance in time. Later that month, the Sweeneys had just returned from Philadelphia for a regular checkup check·up n. 1. An examination or inspection. 2. A general physical examination. checkup See Yearly checkup. when the phone rang. Had this opportunity fallen through, there might not be another one. ``I was just hoping to have enough oxygen to keep her breathing until we got there,'' Edward Sweeney said. With the cooperation of Richard Palmer, a cousin and a New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. corrections officer, a police escort was arranged for the trip to Philadelphia, where she would receive treatment. From the George Washington Bridge George Washington Bridge, vehicular suspension bridge across the Hudson River, between Manhattan borough of New York City and Fort Lee, N.J.; constructed 1927–31. It is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. , the car crossed the state line and the New Jersey State Police followed along the New Jersey Turnpike until reaching Philadelphia. Normally a two-hour, 15-minute trip, the entourage arrived at the hospital in an hour and 40 minutes. Phyllis Sweeney spent almost six hours in surgery. In most transplants, one lung is removed and replaced, while the other continues to function. But she had to be kept alive by machine. The rest of the family, including Brian, arrived the next day as Phyllis remained unconscious in the intensive care unit. ``That was one of the scariest times of my life. She looked dead, with the color of her skin (so pale),'' Brian Sweeney recalled. ``When we saw her eyes twitch, we didn't know what was happening. She was waking up.'' ``A nurse asked my mother, `Can you squeeze your son's hand,' '' he said. ``I'll never forget how hard she squeezed my hand. Then she opened her eyes. Things like that you'll never forget.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO JetHawks' Brian Sweeney gets his inspiration from his mother, Phyllis, who recently recovered from a life-threatening illness. John Lazar / Special to the Daily News |
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