Naples man uses second chance at life to help others living with lung disease

Now, he is using that second chance to help other people breathe a little easier.

Oscar Escobar and Naples Pulmonary Rehab Club member Carolyn Kroll came to WINK Listens at the Elks Lodge in Estero to spread the word about support available for people living with lung disease in Southwest Florida.

WINK News reporter Haley Jacobs spoke with them about their own health journeys and why they want more people to know the club exists.

For Escobar, the mission is personal.

He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that causes scarring in the lungs and can make it increasingly difficult to breathe. Escobar said when he first received the diagnosis, he did not even know what pulmonary fibrosis was.

Before his transplant, Escobar said he relied on an oxygen tank or concentrator and struggled to hold a conversation for more than a few minutes.

He described the feeling as being "like a fish out of the water."

The diagnosis was especially difficult because Escobar had young children.

He told WINK News one of his children was only about a year and a half old when he was diagnosed. His goal throughout treatment was simple: do whatever it took to be there to watch his children grow up.

Escobar said he spent about four years waiting for a lung transplant while going through pulmonary rehabilitation and exercising to keep his body strong enough for surgery.

He eventually received a double lung transplant in 2024. Now, as he approaches the second anniversary of that surgery, Escobar jokingly tells his children he is about to turn "two years old."

He considers the transplant a second chance at life.

"I want to pay forward to the community," Escobar said. "I want all the other patients to see ... that there is help, that there is hope."

That is what he is trying to do through the Naples Pulmonary Rehab Club.

The support group was first formed in 2020 by a pulmonary therapist at the NCH Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center. When she retired in 2023, Escobar, who had been participating in pulmonary rehab, stepped in to help continue the group and its mission.

Today, the group brings together people living with conditions including COPD, pulmonary fibrosis and other chronic lung diseases, along with caregivers and medical professionals.

Escobar describes it simply as "patients helping patients."

The group meets each month at the NCH Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center in Naples. Doctors and other professionals are invited to talk with members about topics including medications, treatments, oxygen therapy and new procedures.

Escobar said that extra time to ask questions and learn from others can be especially valuable for patients trying to understand a new diagnosis.

But the club is not only about sitting in a meeting.

Members can also take part in seated yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with other activities focused on exercise, education and connection. The club's website also lists nutritional education and monthly sessions with professional guest speakers among its programs.

Kroll said those programs have made a major difference in her own life.

She told WINK News she moved to Southwest Florida about four years ago and ended up in the hospital during her first week here with COVID-19, double pneumonia and pleurisy. She spent 13 days in the hospital before beginning pulmonary rehabilitation.

Kroll, who has COPD, said exercise and chair yoga became an important part of her recovery.

She said she previously needed oxygen but now rarely uses it.

"What I've learned from this organization is just unbelievable," Kroll said.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis causes tissue around the lungs' air sacs to become thick and stiff. Over time, permanent scarring can make it harder for oxygen to move into the bloodstream. There is currently no cure for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, but medications, oxygen therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation and, for some patients with serious disease, a lung transplant may be treatment options.

Escobar said spreading awareness is one of the biggest reasons he and Kroll came to WINK Listens.

September is Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month, and Escobar said he believes many people still do not understand the disease or know where to turn for help.

He remembers getting questions from strangers when he used an oxygen tank or concentrator. When he told people he had pulmonary fibrosis, he said many responded the same way he did when he was first diagnosed: asking what it was.

Now, he wants to change that.

"I want to make sure that patients know that there is hope," Escobar said.

The Naples Pulmonary Rehab Club is holding a bingo and pizza event Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. as part of Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month.

The club says there are no dues to take part in its support group. Its regular meetings are held at the NCH Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center at 11190 Health Park Boulevard, Building 1, in Naples.

More information about the Naples Pulmonary Rehab Club, upcoming meetings and its programs can be found at NaplesPRClub.com.

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