FIGHTING FIT AGAINST ALL THE ODDS
LIVING WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS ALL HIS LIFE, LAR BRENNAN HAS BEEN THROUGH THICK AND THIN, BUT REFUSES TO LET IT BRING HIM DOWN. THE LUNG TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT TELLS PADRAIG BYRNE ABOUT THE BAD TIMES AND THE GOOD, AND HOW HE HAS FULFILLED A DREAM BY OPENING HIS OWN GYM IN WEXFORD
AT ONE stage, confined to a hospital bed in Dublin, things looked increasingly bad for Oulart resident Lar Brennan. Diagnosed with the genetic condition Cystic Fibrosis (CF) when he was just nine months old, it had been a familiar foe throughout his life, however things really came to a head when Lar hit his mid-twenties.
Desperately awaiting a lung transplant, Lar spent nearly three years in a hospital bed. Determined not to let the condition, which mainly effects the lungs and severely hampers the patient’s ability to breath, beat him, he continued training from his hospital bed with the dream of becoming a personal trainer. Things took such a turn, however, that Lar was in agony, receiving palliative care from the hospital and he looked to be slipping away.
However, fast forward five and a half years and the Dublin native is doing great. Having received a transplant, he has just put the finishing touches to his very own gym Postural Alignment and Fitness Ireland in Drinagh just outside Wexford town and is busily working away with clients that include fighters from the SBG gyms in Dublin.
‘I suppose I was really sick from day one,’ Lar says, recalling his childhood. ‘I always tried to stay active and my Mam and dad did a great job. I needed hospital admissions every three months and I was limited in what sports I could play because I’d have things inserted into my chest for IV lines and that kind of thing. There was a whole regime to it. Every day I had to do a lot of work to get the mucus off my lungs and I’d have to take a tablet before I eat anything. I missed a hell of a lot of school as a result as well because I was in and out of hospital.’
At 15, things took a dangerous turn for Lar. He suffered a collapsed lung, an agonising occurrence that would be repeated throughout his life and each time would see his lung capacity decrease.
‘I was hospitalised at the time and obviously it was very dangerous,’ he recalled. ‘It happened another couple of times and it was around then that I really got into fitness. I was looking to boost my lung function. Things weren’t looking good at that age though. I was very frail. I was a small little weakling really and I remember seeing a picture of myself in hospital and thinking to
myself, I’m not going out like that.’
From this point, Lar began to focus a lot more on training and building himself up. While he suffered setbacks along the way, his determination never faltered. He set about achieving his goal of becoming a personal trainer.
‘School just wasn’t for me, so I left in transition year,’ he said. ‘I had missed so much and I had learning difficulties as well, so I hated every minute. Other lads my age were all getting jobs so I started looking for work. I wanted to do everything that they told me I couldn’t do. I got a job in a hire shop in Clondalkin and, looking back, the lads there looked after me and gave me the easy jobs just to keep me around!’
It was around this time that another big force came into Lar’s life. Having met in hospital, he began a relationship with fellow CF sufferer Amanda. With a high danger of cross contamination, CF sufferers are advised not to mix.
‘We weren’t supposed to be together,’ says Lar. ‘We met in hospital and we were both in and out of hospital a lot. We were both awaiting transplants together. We were with each other for a couple of years after the transplant.
‘It was actually at this point that we both moved to Wexford. My mam and dad were already down here and we decided to make the move. She was in hospital for a lot of it. She had her transplant and it lasted six years before she needed another one. The shelf life unfortunately is not great statistically. Unfortunately, Amanda passed away then a few years ago.’
For Lar, things had to reach a desperately low point before they got better. At a particularly tough point he spent the best part of three years in hospital, his lung function decimated.
‘I got a knee injury playing soccer,’ he explains. ‘I knew from that point it would be difficult to keep my fitness up. Then one day I was taking a summer camp out in Monageer and suffered a collapsed lung. I didn’t say anything to anyone, I just left and went straight to the hospital.’
This was to be an all too regular occurrence and Lar ended up on oxygen for the best part of four years.
‘I was trying to keep training and doing what I could at the time,’ he said. ‘Around this time I was interviewed for TV3 and stuff. I was there training in my hospital bed with resistance bands and stuff and while others were dying around me, I was struggling to keep going.’
‘Eventually I had to get a peg-feed to keep my weight up. It got so bad that I could’ve given up any day. If it wasn’t for the great support of my family I wouldn’t be here.’
Having been on the waiting list for a double lung transplant for a year, with things in dire straits, Lar finally got the call in October of 2013. He was rushed to hospital, but sadly this was to be a false dawn.
‘It was a false alarm,’ he explained. ‘I got there and I was told that one of the lungs was damaged. At this stage, I was on a machine that was basically breathing for me. After that I was getting palliative care from the hospital. I had great help from the Tracie Lawlor Trust in Wexford at this stage too and Ian and Phil were brilliant throughout.’
‘ Things got steadily worse though and I was in agony. The nurses came in and wanted to put me on a morphine pump. I wouldn’t take it though. I had seen friends in similar situations who had gone on a morphine pump and passed
I WAS ON A MACHINE THAT WAS BASICALLY BREATHING FOR ME. AFTER THAT I WAS GETTING PALLIATIVE CARE FROM THE HOSPITAL
away shortly after. The nurse told me that she couldn’t watch me suffering like this and I made a deal with her that if I didn’t get a call with a transplant within the following week, I’d take the pump.’
Almost exactly a week later, that call came. Lar was rushed to theatre, where he was informed there was a strong chance he could die on the operating table. Thankfully though he fought through. His thoughts quickly turned to his donor.
‘I wanted to know about my donor,’ he said. ‘But in Ireland they don’t tell you. All I knew was that it was a young man living nearby. I spent a long time researching and eventually I found his family.
‘ They recommend that you don’t do this with transplants, but luckily it worked out well for us and they were happy to meet as well. It was all arranged through a third party. It turned out he was a young man who died in a car accident. For his family to take the decision to do what they did was absolutely amazing.’
WHILE the fairytale story would tell of an instant recovery, there was a long hard road facing Lar in the wake of his transplant too. ‘ There was a lot of hard work afterwards too,’ he says. ‘But obviously it’s worth it. I’d hate for anyone with CF reading this to think that it’s all plain sailing after you get your transplant, because that’s not the case. I could be facing into a kidney transplant now too.
I’ve got stage four kidney disease and there are only five stages. I’ve got liver disease as well and a lot of this is as a result of the impact of the anti-rejection drugs following the transplant.’
However, at the moment, Lar is keeping on top of it and seems fighting fit. Having worked as a personal trainer for some time, those countless
hours spent studying in his hospital bed paying off, he took the plunge and opened his own gym six months ago at Sinnottstown Business Park, Drinagh.
Lar’s focus is on postural alignment, something which he says can have a major impact.
‘I’m the only one in the country doing this,’ he says proudly. ‘Basically we look at the eyes and the nervous system. It’s all non-invasive, but it can make a huge difference. Within minutes you can see someone’s posture change, it’s amazing. I’m obsessed with technique in the gym. When you watch people, there are people who shouldn’t be squatting or dead-lifting at all without getting their posture sorted and they could be doing themselves damage.’
As well as offering his services in Wexford, Lar has travelled to the SBG gyms in Dublin which spawned stars such as Conor McGregor and has worked with Paddy Holohan on stressing the importance of the eyes to a new generation of fighters.
‘It’s been a dream come true to get my own gym up and going,’ said Lar. ‘ The clients I have in the gym really make it. There’s a real family atmosphere out here and I’m lucky to have them. It’s great to be able to help other people out there and it feels like, in doing so, my donor is helping others too.’
From a health point of view, Lar is not completely out of the woods. As mentioned, he continues to battle kidney and liver disease, conditions which in less determined people can have a major impact on the energy levels. However, having just opened his new business, Lar shows no sign of slowing down and at 34 is determined not to lose any more time.
‘I still have regular visits to the hospital and check ups,’ he says, showing not even a hint of dejection. ‘After that it’s just a case of monitoring things for the minute and seeing how long I get out of it.’