Back to Fighting Crime After 2nd Double Lung Transplant

On April 9th of 2018, the Thibodaux Police Department welcomed back one of their officers: 35-year-old Paul Thibodeaux. He has been a police officer for over 15 years, but for the last year, he had to take a break to recover from a second double lung transplant.

Thibodeaux was born with cystic fibrosis. He received his first procedure, an ileostomy, when he was just two days old, when the disease caused a blockage in his intestine. The doctors told his family that he would not live past the age of 12. “My parents decided they would let me do whatever a normal kid would do. So, my doctors think letting me run around and play spots and all actually kept me healthier as a kid” said Thibodeaux.

Throughout the years, he stayed pretty healthy, but then things took a turn for the worse. “I went down to about 108 pounds and I was about 15-12 percent lung function. I was on oxygen 24 hours a day. I was walking and I had to bring my oxygen mask everywhere I went” he said. Thibodeaux became in desperate need of a new pair of lungs or he would die. He was placed on a waitlist for nearly 5 months until he received the gift of life from a fallen marine – Chad Chisholm.

Chisholm graduated from high school in May of 2011 with a 4.0 GPA. Since he was a young boy, he knew that he wanted to be a marine and he left for boot camp on Father’s Day 2011. In February of 2012, he damaged his Achilles tendon before he ever got a chance to be deployed. Chisholm could walk, although with great difficulty. He was given a medical discharge in November of 2014 and on May 27th of 2015, the young man passed away at the age of 22.

Read more to learn about Thibodeaux's journey.

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