Eberhard Jordan

Life Before Zephyr® Endobronchial Valves:

I was diagnosed with COPD sometime in 2000: I was independent, rather busy, played little to no sport, smoked profusely, and I began to find it difficult to breathe. My pulmonologist said that I had Stage 2 COPD. My response was: “Yes, that’s just the way it is. It’s not so bad” – even though my father had had to combat a severe lung disease. My health received another, rather hard, knock after professional and private strokes of fate.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe and started gasping after 100 m. The diagnosis: COPD Stage 3, with the advice “If you don’t stop smoking soon, you will first need oxygen and then be completely finished.” In the meantime I had started to do things like breathing training. But I still continued to smoke and party until late. That came to a sudden end one day in 2014 as I noticed when shopping that I could only go a meter at a time and ended up being taken to hospital, to intensive care, by ambulance.

Today I can say that my stay in intensive care was a chance for a new beginning for me. Although it was a difficult upwards path. I could barely go 10 m without suffering severe shortness of breath. And so began the long journey back towards improvement with the help of my daughters and friends, who accompanied me in the beginning on my “excursions” – to be sure that I would get home safe again.

Life After Zephyr Endobronchial Valves:

After various setbacks in my health and the subsequent interventions and corrections, in January 2017 it was time for my Zephyr Valve implantation, done in the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna. Three months after implantation, I was back on the road to a good recovery. Originally starting at 24% FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in 1 second) of the target, my FEV1 value was now 36% – and improving.

My COPD stage has gone down from 4 to 3 and I can walk again without becoming exhausted, carry out activities of daily life myself, and spend lots of great time with my children and grandson. I even manage to walk 1000 m in my fitness studio, definitely slowly, but under my own steam. This only works because training has become an essential part of my life – and still is. Taking medicine that has been customized for me, a healthy diet and lots of love and supervision – also by doctors and therapists – are other important factors. As I would like to encourage other COPD patients and give them confidence, I started my own blog (myCOPD-blog.com) in January 2017.

For the same reasons, I set myself a personal challenge, climbing the 343 steps of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. I successfully did this on 21 November 2018 after a long and goal-oriented training. Through this action, I could give the disease COPD a voice – with an overwhelming response. On 20 November 2019, I set myself the next challenge: the 776 steps of Vienna’s Danube Tower!

Results from case studies are not necessarily predictive of results in other cases. Results in other cases may vary. 

Important Safety Information: The Pulmonx Zephyr®️ Endobronchial Valves are implantable bronchial valves indicated for the bronchoscopic treatment of adult patients with hyperinflation associated with severe emphysema in regions of the lung that have little to no collateral ventilation. Complications can include but are not limited to pneumothorax (tear in the lung), worsening of COPD symptoms, hemoptysis, pneumonia, and, in rare cases, death. The Zephyr Valve is contraindicated in patients who have not quit smoking. Please talk with your physician about other contraindications, warnings, precautions, and adverse events. Only a trained physician can decide whether a particular patient is an appropriate candidate for treatment with the Zephyr Valve.