Man with double lung transplant runs in Columbus 5K to honor care team, organ donor

Jessica Orozco, The Columbus Dispatch
·3 min read
Mike Kaster, left, of Carmel, Indiana, was a COVID-19 patient who needed a double lung transplant. He participated Saturday in the Lifeline of Ohio Dash for Donation in Columbus. Almost his entire family turned out for the event, including wife Joan and (front row, from left) Matt, Oliver, 5 months, Valarie, 3, and Hannah Kaster; Craig and Patti Oldis, with Johnathan, 8, and Abigail, 6. In the back row is William, 20 months, Michael and Liz Kaster; Megan Kaster; Bridget Kaster; and Margaret Kaster, with Lucas Roach, 1.

Last summer, Mike Kaster almost died.

He’d contracted COVID-19 in July 2021. By Aug. 5 — the day before his 38th wedding anniversary — he was put on a ventilator. But the Carmel, Indiana, man's lungs became so extensively damaged that a week later he was taken from an Indianapolis hospital to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center for more specialized treatment — and a double lung transplant and heart bypass.

On Saturday, Kaster, 60, an avid runner, ran half and walked half of the Dash for Donation in Columbus, with a large portion of his family to honor his care team at OSU Wexner and the organ donor who gave him life. Team Mike has raised more than $7,500 to help Lifeline of Ohio support donation programs and care for donor families.

Grateful to be holding some of his grandchildren, Mike Kaster was a COVID-19 patient who needed a double lung transplant and participated Saturday in the Lifeline of Ohio Dash for Donation in Columbus. Almost his entire family turned out for the event. Also holding some of the grandchildren is his wife Joan. They live in Carmel, Indiana, but the surgery was performed at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Kaster, a company insurance consultant for Gallagher Insurance, said his bout with COVID-19 was “very strange,” as he was put on a ventilator Aug. 5 in Indianapolis and woke up at OSU Wexner the day after receiving new lungs Sept. 7.

He’d lost several weeks of his life while sedated but not his life.

Joan Kaster said that although her husband Mike was the more active of the two of them — going to Orange Theory workout classes four to five times a week while she was immunocompromised due to a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma — he was the sickest out of anyone in their family who had been stricken with COVID-19.

Neither Joan nor Mike had received the COVID-19 vaccine at that time, though Joan  had plans to discuss the best option with her oncologist. Mike planned to get vaccinated at the same time as his wife. All that was canceled when he became extremely ill from COVID-19.

After he was ventilated, Mike Kaster was put on ECMO — a process in which blood is drawn from the body and run through a machine that removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygenated blood back into the body.

Mike Kaster, of Carmel, Indiana, after receiving a double lung transplant and concurrent bypass in September at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.
Mike Kaster, of Carmel, Indiana, after receiving a double lung transplant and concurrent bypass in September at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.

He received a priority double lung transplant and heart bypass due to a cardiac blockage and his overall life-threatening condition. Afterward, his recovery progressed quickly.

“When I walked in the room (after the transplant), he was sitting up,” Joan Kaster said. “He was looking at me — it was like, ‘When can we get the tube out?’ and my jaw, I mean he didn’t say it, but he was like indicating, talking to me with his eyes, I guess. After all these years, it was like I could tell what he was trying to say.”

Mike Kaster said he underwent occupational therapy after he woke up and looked down at his “frail” arms and legs.

“My body had deteriorated very significantly. … I had trouble even lifting my head,” he said.

Kaster was released from the OSU Wexner intensive care unit after about a week, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. He had to return to the ICU after his condition deteriorated and he got pneumonia. He said it wasn't until three or four weeks after his surgery that his “real recovery” began, when he was no longer on supplemental oxygen.

Mike Kaster, of Carmel Indiana, was a COVID-19 patient who needed a double lung transplant and participated Saturday in the Lifeline of Ohio Dash for Donation in Columbus.
Mike Kaster, of Carmel Indiana, was a COVID-19 patient who needed a double lung transplant and participated Saturday in the Lifeline of Ohio Dash for Donation in Columbus.

Kaster said while he is doing much better now, he is still not back to his old self. He gets tired easily, especially when working out. Before COVID-19, he had been running 5K races without an issue.

Now, the Dash for Donation is a huge milestone for him, being his second 5K since getting his new lungs. He walked for much of his first 5K with his new lungs.

“I’m very fortunate that I’m here, and that wouldn’t be without the benefit of a new set of lungs,” Kaster said. “It’s very humbling and very daunting that somebody passed away, somebody died and donated their organs for someone else to live — and that’s me.

"I got to live because someone else donated.”

JOrozco@dispatch.com

@JessicaCOrozco

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Man who received double lung transplant runs in Columbus 5K