Sunday dinner to help Austintown man needing lung transplant

AUSTINTOWN

Transportation department employees at Austintown schools consider themselves family, and a family comes together when one of its own is in need.

The need for Lorraine Haefke, a district bus driver for eight years, and her family couldn’t be any greater as her husband struggles with a potentially fatal disease.

Jeff Haefke, 43, was diagnosed in 2003 with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that was caused by a severe allergy to cobalt dust

particles emitted from the materials he worked with at his personal business. 

Pulmonary fibrosis causes scar tissue within the lungs, making breathing and all daily living activities very difficult.  He is on oxygen 24 hours daily and hasn’t been able to work since September 2011. 

She said her department and the entire Mahoning Valley banded together and organized a spaghetti dinner benefit from noon to

5 p.m. Sunday in the Austintown Middle School cafeteria. Proceeds will be donated to the family to help with medical expenses and immunosuppressants that Jeff will take for the duration of his life after surgery.

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