Did my premature birth influence my development of COPD?
I was born a preemie weighing in at 4 pounds, and during my first six years of life, I was plagued with numerous ear infections. I now have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Caroline Gainer is from West Virginia, the state with the highest rate of COPD in the United States. She was diagnosed with moderate-to-severe COPD in 2013 after a pneumothorax (lung collapse). After two more lung collapses she was diagnosed as severe. She has been very active with the American Lung Association and the COPD Foundation as an advocate for people with lung disease. She hopes that her column, “Life Tethered to a Concentrator,” will inspire others to live their best life with COPD.
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