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| 4/4/2009 11:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Dave Basham holds his 15-year-old granddaughter, Isabell, at his home in Silver Lake Thursday afternoon. Photo by Daniel Riordan, Times-Union. |
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Silver Lake Man Fighting 'Death Sentence'
Daniel Riordan
Times-Union Staff Writer
SILVER LAKE - Dave Basham shouldn't be alive.
Doctors told him he wouldn't live more than two years after being diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
That was five years ago.
Now Basham and his wife, Lois, struggle to afford the medications that keep him alive.
Basham keeps oxygen and an IV filled with the medicine Flolan on him at all times. It takes him 10 minutes to prepare his Flolan IV bag and he can't go without it.
Unfortunately, tough times have made the Basham choose between other drugs he's prescribed.
"Sometimes it's come down to medicine or the house payment," said Dave.
They spend a lot of their time driving to and from Chicago for treatment at the University of Chicago where Dave is part of a study on an experimental drug call Sorafenib.
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Lois is down to four days a week at Maple Leaf Farms, and she worries the constant travel may cost her her job.
"They're saying (Dave) may need a double lung transplant, which if that's the case, I worry we may lose the house," said Lois.
Though Dave has been diagnosed with PPAH for more than five years, he was reluctant to tell people he was sick.
"I worked for 14 months after they told me I was going to die," said Dave, who spent most of his adult life working at different orthopedic companies as a finisher aid as well a machinist and engineering tech. "Finally they laid me off so I could be put on disability."
He says the hardest part is the isolation of being at home all day.
Perhaps the key to him bucking the doctor's "death sentence" comes in the form of his 15-month-old granddaughter, Isabell.
The Bashams have been the guardians of Isabell for basically her whole life, and she serves as the motivation for Dave to keep fighting.
"Every day I get up is a blessing," said Dave. "I want to raise my granddaughter, watch her graduate and make something of herself.
"And I want to see my wife get white-haired and wrinkled," Dave said with a wry smile.
Since he's been diagnosed with PPAH he's lost weight. He weighed 227 pounds when he was diagnosed and is now 166.
He's tired a lot and his skins breaks out into "raspberries" because of the medication he's on.
Dave was reluctant to come forward with his illness. A proud and humble man, he didn't want pity or charity.
But finally he decided that he wanted to get the word out about what this illness does.
"I just want people to realize that there's this disease out here and it affects different sorts of people," said Dave who has seen a 2-year-old dealing with PPAH.
The toll of the disease hasn't just affected Dave.
"I don't sleep very well at night," said Lois. "I worry constantly about him. I'm worried sick."
Dave used to work 70 hours a week. When he wasn't working, he was hunting, fishing or planting a garden.
"My life revolves around taking pills, making medicine and changing and making ice packs," said Dave, who takes 34 pills every day.
Though he can no longer work or do the things he loved to do, he wants to be active in spreading the word about PPAH and how to possibly prevent it.
Exact causes haven't been pinpointed, but besides genetic predisposition, health and lifestyles choices may led to being more susceptible to the illness.
His main duty every day besides taking medicine constantly is providing care for Isabell while Lois is at work.
"She's my life," said Dave.
The Bashams are thankful for those in Silver Lake who have aided them. Whether it be the new ramp for their home or just spending time, the Bashams said they are grateful for the help of the town board and residents.
The Bashams are currently hoping for a scooter for Dave for when they go out because he becomes tired so easily.
For more information on donating to the Bashams, call Town Marshall Craig Hollopeter at 260-352-2120.
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