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Disease puts plans on hold for Tina Carkido
By Sean Barron
Until recently, Tina Carkido attended a community college near Cleveland with plans to transfer to a four-year university and work as an animal-rescue officer.
All those ambitions are on hold, however, because of continual lung infections the 24-year-old former Mahoning Valley woman suffers as the result of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease in which thick mucus forms in the lungs, pancreas and other organs.
The mucus typically blocks the airways, which usually leads to lung damage and difficulty breathing.
Instead of pursuing her dreams that include helping abused and neglected animals, Carkido, who was born with the disease, is dreaming of being able to breathe much more easily — with a set of new lungs.
Carkido, of North Royalton in Cuyahoga County, is on a list to receive a double-lung transplant at the Cleveland Clinic.
About 900 lung transplants are performed annually in the U.S., and nearly 1,600 people with cystic fibrosis have received transplants since 1991, according to the Bethesda, Md.-based Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Recipients of lung transplants also receive drugs to stop their immune systems from rejecting the organ. The drugs have to be taken daily for life, the foundation notes.
Roughly 90 percent of those with the disease are alive one year after transplantation; about 50 percent live five years or more, according to foundation estimates.
For now, Carkido has to take enzymes and insulin with meals and is on antibiotics to keep her lung infections from doing further damage.
To that end, a Bob Evans Community Fun Night fundraiser to benefit the Children’s Organ Transplant Association on behalf of Carkido is set for 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bob Evans Restaurant, 7347 California Ave., Boardman.
The transplant association will earn 15 percent of sales when participants present a flier at the restaurant. The flier must accompany checks for donations.
Those who want additional fliers should e-mail Kathy Roncone at kathy@magicalcomputing.com and write “COTA for Tina” on the subject line. Roncone is one of Carkido’s aunts.
COTA, founded in 1986 in Bloomington, Ind., assists patients who need life-saving organ, bone-marrow or stem-cell transplants, in part by helping families pay transplant-related expenses, its mission statement says.
Carkido had spent much of her life in and out of hospitals. She was re-admitted last week to the Cleveland Clinic, after having been home for a few days, said Noreen Mazon of Boardman, an event organizer and another of Carkido’s aunts.
Carkido is holding up emotionally, despite seldom going out for fear of contracting another infection, Mazon explained, adding that she hopes Carkido will get the transplant this year.
“I’m praying every day she gets her lungs,” Mazon said. “She’s just looking forward to breathing without oxygen [tanks].”