A life reclaimed: The story of Jeff Collings

Paris Firefighter Jeff Collings (left) and his father Dave, former County of Brant Fire Chief

Scoop Stewart and Haybo Stewart (No Relation)

Paris Independent Sports Reporter

Scoop ran into an old friend, the captain of the Paris Mounties that Scoop coached in the late eighties. This old friend had a personal and truly moving story to tell. Scoop would like to share it with his dear readers of the Paris Independent.

It’s been three years since the fifty-six-year-old Paris resident, Jeff Collings, received a life-changing double lung transplant. His health steadily declined in the hospital, first at Brantford General, then at St. Joseph's. He was placed on life support and lost consciousness.

In a Hail Mary moment, the word came down that he was being transferred to Toronto General for his life-saving lung transplant. In his earlier years, Jeff would be the last person you’d suspect to develop a breathing disorder, COPD. It is a lung disease that includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. They cause airflow blockage and breathing control complications.

The oldest of three children, sports were a large part of Collings’ life. The six-foot, one-hundred-eighty-five-pound defensive hockey player was captain of the Paris Mounties and captain of the Jr. D league all-star team.

Following in his father Dave’s footsteps, he became a Brant County fireman at the Paris department for 20 years. He was in shape to run a marathon, and when it was too late, he realized his health would not compensate for his smoking.

Combined with the hazards of noxious fumes he endured during his time as a firefighter; Jeff’s luck finally ran out. After Jeff’s 2013 End-Stage COPD diagnosis, he finally quit his habit of smoking, but it was too late…

His lung capacity was at a mere 12% when he finally tested in 2015.

“I couldn’t compensate any longer, I tried to hide it, but then I started losing weight and lost the ability to work.” – Jeff Collings

Visiting the COPD clinic became his full-time job, and to combat his boredom, Jeff began a blog that highlighted the effects and new lifestyle of End-Stage COPD and living with assisted breathing devices. It gave him a purpose.

At the end of 2015, Jeff was in the care of a respirologist, but the once boisterous athlete became a shell of his former self. Using handrails to guide him through his new life and having barely the ability to speak, Jeff’s only hope was to be the recipient of a lung transplant.

For six long years, Jeff fought alone, only to be visited by his immediate family, living off an oxygen machine, and barely able to speak.

Finally, his respirologist was instrumental in getting Jeff on the transplant list in 2022, but becoming qualified and staying qualified would become the biggest challenge yet.

That included being able to walk six minutes straight, “It sounds simple enough,” said Jeff, “but not if you can’t breathe. As a former athlete, it was incredibly frustrating.”

You cannot keep this man down. Jeff, along with his daughter, would travel to the Mary Maxim parking lot to walk laps for as long as he could. This went on for months, and finally, Jeff was able to walk for six minutes uninterrupted.

Then there were the setbacks, caused by pneumonia and many hospital stays. Jeff was set to receive his transplant on June 22nd, then it was sadly canceled. At the Brantford General Hospital, Jeff’s health was declining fast, then he got COVID.

Collings weighed about 100 pounds; he was transferred to St. Joseph's on August 15th, where he was placed on life support. In the middle of the night, August 19th, Toronto General Hospital called to deliver the news that there was a donor.

Jeff was unconscious at this point and didn’t wake up until the fifth day after the transplant and doesn’t recall that either. “Unfortunately, it put a lot of stress on everyone else but for me because I was out of it.”

Throughout this journey, his mom and dad, Bev and Dave, were by his side and were a significant source of support. Though they are in their late 70s and early 80s, they still managed to drive down to see Jeff 107 days straight in Toronto. Which is a true testament of love.

As day ten rolled around, Jeff could breathe, and all his anxiety was gone. Collings understood why they required you to be in such good shape going into the operation. You must stand on your own while holding ten pounds of tubes that deliver your oxygen. Just over a month later he was discharged from the Toronto General and transferred to the E.W. Bickell Center for complex continued care in Toronto.

“It was the best of both worlds, having the therapy and nurses all in one place.” Jeff recalls the day he could walk outside with his walker. “I could hear the birds chirping, I picked up a leaf off the ground and could smell the freshly cut grass.” To this day, Jeff still has that leaf.

Soon, Jeff was off oxygen and eating again, and in a month, he was discharged and sent home. His lung capacity is now at 90%, but he’s still not out of the woods. “I have no immune system and I’m not sure if it’ll ever come back, I can’t fight the common cold.” Jeff walks 20 minutes a day and gets a lot of his exercise from his cornhole tournaments in southern Ontario, which is his newfound passion.

Another emotional moment is when Jeff wrote a letter to his donor family, which is a custom. Jeff doesn’t know any information about his donor, and it’s up to the family to respond. He hasn’t heard back. But then he wonders, “What could I possibly say to them?”

Jeff’s goal is to get people to sign their donor cards, to become an organ donor, visit the website – BeADonor.ca. It takes up to 5 minutes to fill out your card, and you can save up to 8 lives.

This is a valuable moment where we can all learn from Jeff. It takes 5 minutes to save a life. Please ensure that you take that time to fill out a form and know that you can save a member of your community. Scoop Stewart signing off always a pleasure!