Council Member Treated for Rejection of Lung Transplant

Menifee City Council member Wallace Edgerton won't be at City Hall for the Jan. 7 council meeting because he's undergoing treatments in San Diego related to his lung transplant 3 1/2 year ago. That won't keep his voice from being heard in council chambers, however.

Edgerton, who turns 81 this month, will participate in the council meeting via telephone from the hotel he'll be staying in while receiving treatments all next week.

"Usually I go down there every Monday and Tuesday, but I've been having some more issues and I need treatments all next week," Edgerton said by phone today. "The folks at City Hall have been fabulous about working with me and getting me all the information I need to prepare."

This will not be the first time telephonic participation has been used at a Menifee City Council meeting. Former council member Tom Fuhrman participated by phone last summer while he was recovering from injuries received in a fall on his ranch. The late Fred Twyman also took part in a council meeting by phone a few years ago.

In May of 2011, Edgerton became the oldest person ever to receive a lung transplant. Recently, he said, he has had more health issues because his body has begun rejecting the new lung. To treat the problem, doctors draw some of his blood, separate the white blood cells from the T-cells, treat the T-cells with radiation, and inject them back into his bloodstream so the weakened T-cells don't attack the transplant.

The treatment, called Photopheresis, takes two to three hours and normally is administered twice a week.

"They use it on people of all ages," Edgerton said. "I've been here with young people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis who receive it. It looks like dialysis, but they really do the opposite with the blood.

"I have no complaints. I feel I'm blessed, because I shouldn't have had a new lung in the first place. I'm the oldest guy they ever did it on, so eventually chronic rejection takes place. I'll probably miss a couple more council meetings and it will slow me down, but I'm glad they're working with me to help me to continue to participate."

Edgerton said he expects to continue receiving the treatments for up to six months.