Greg Lee was a normal, active man who loved to play sports with his young boys and worked hard to provide for his family -- until a rare disease rendered him hardly able to breathe.

The Orangeburg resident's medical journey began in 1995, when all kinds of medical tests were performed to try to find out what was causing Lee's chills, fatigue and persistent cough. He was working for a Springfield box company at the time.

"They sent me to a doctor in Aiken. He said I had a touch of pneumonia. Then, I went to Bamberg to my family doctor. He couldn't find out what was wrong with me," said Lee, who was eventually diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis after visiting a specialist at Palmetto Baptist Medical Center in Columbia.

Lee continued to work, this time at a Blythewood plant making fuel injector parts for trucks. But his cough worsened, and he was losing weight. He has now been out of work for six years and must wear an oxygen tank at all times.

Sarcoidosis is a rare disease that results from inflammation. Ninety percent of the cases of sarcoidosis are found in the lungs, but it can occur in almost any organ.



It causes small lumps, or granulomas, which generally heal and disappear on their own; however, for those granulomas that do not heal, the tissue can remain inflamed and become scarred, or fibrotic. Skin rashes on the face, arms or shins, inflammation of the eyes and fever are among the disease's other symptoms.

"I ain't never got no better since then," Lee said. "He (the doctor) told me I might need a lung transplant, but now they see I need one."

Lee is currently qualifying to be placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant at Duke Medical Center in Durham, N.C. He must raise $25,000 as part of the process, which is also forcing the family's eventual relocation to Durham.

"They're running tests and everything on me, but I got to raise $25,000 and I got to gain at least 10 pounds," Lee said.

His wife, Olympia, said her husband can no longer play basketball with their two sons, Dejuan, 12, and Myron, 11. Things as simple as making a meal or getting a glass of water have become major challenges for her husband, who currently undergoes cardiac rehabilitation three days a week at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg.

She said her husband's fight to receive a lung transplant has become a matter of life or death.

"It's been overwhelming. It's a lot that we need to get used to by him not working and just really depending on us to help him do a lot of things. It's sometimes hard for him to move about the house as a normal, healthy person could do," Olympia Lee said. "The kids are very active ... . He would like to get out there and show them some skills because Greg was a good basketball player when he was young. It's hard not to be able to get out there and interact with his own kids."

Greg Lee said his lungs collapsed in 1999.

"They (doctors) put a test tube in it, and all the coughing just scarred them up so bad ... until they really ain't any good any more. The lung is no good. It's breaking down," he said, noting that his right lung is the one that needs to be replaced.

"I can't run. You get tired too fast. I can eat, but it's hard for me to gain weight because I'm burning so much calories off because of the hard breathing. I try my best to eat," Lee said. Olympia Lee said her husband's deteriorating lung condition is also causing pulmonary hypertension.

The Lees' church, Bushy Pond Baptist Church in Norway, held a benefit golf tournament as a way to help the family with its escalating bills. The family expects to have to stay in North Carolina for approximately three months. They are also faced with paying for medication that Greg Lee would have to take for two years.

Sardis Baptist Church of Salley has also held a benefit gospel concert to assist the family. The Lees said they are grateful for all of the support they have received from family and other community members.

"It's been good. I put God first," said Greg Lee, who is hopeful that he will be able to receive a lung transplant.

"Some of the people have been very generous. I don't think they know how serious the condition is, that he is in need of a transplant," Olympia Lee said.

The Gregory Lee Lung Transplant Fund has been set up at CPM Federal Credit Union, located at 480 Stonewall Jackson Drive, Orangeburg, SC 29115, or at the 1776 Boulevard Extension, Orangeburg, SC 29115. Anyone interested in donating to Lee's cause can make checks payable to the Gregory Lee Lung Transplant Fund and mail or drop them by those addresses.

For more information, contact Lee at 803-533-4392, 803-535-9758 or 1228 Norway Road, Orangeburg, SC 29115.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5534.

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