The Boston Herald, September 1, 1998

Dottie Lessard spent most of her life trying to catch her breath.

At 6 weeks old, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a progressive disease that attacks the lungs and leaves its victims unable to breathe.During her childhood, her only inconveniences were daily doses of pills, physical therapy and routine checkups. She was a tomboy, an athlete, a skinny, but normal kid.

But it all changed in high school. She'd have to stop in the hallway between classes to gasp for air. Only a few minutes on the - treadmill would leave her winded. Her lungs couldn't hold enough air to let her ride a bike out of the parking lot.

"There is nothing worse than not being able to breathe" she said.

Now she can. Almost four years after a double lung transplant, Lessard, 31, of Bradford, is a personal trainer and massage therapist. She recently won three medals at the U.S. Transplant Games in Ohio, and she's engaged to be married next year.

"When I took my first deep breath I was like, wow," she said. "I'll never forget it. I was lying in the hospital bed, watching that Susan Smith case... on the news. I breathed, and lungs didn't stop.

Before the transplant, Lessard dealt with her disease- by staying in shape and concentrating on daily life. But in 1991, she had to face the, reality of CF. Her lungs collapsed twice. She couldn't exercise.

"It's hard to exercise when you can't breathe, but I knew if I didn't stay healthy, if I didn't fight this disease, the disease would win,”she said.

That was when Lessard started bodybuilding.

"It didn't take as much breathing to lift weights, and I could sit and do them”she said. "I'd do a set, have a coughing fit, and what took an hour for most people to do took me three, but I accomplished something."

Lessard built a gym in her house and got her personal-training license

A beeper at her side was the only clue that she was waiting for the call that would save her life - the signal that she could get a double lung transplant.

She got the call at 4 a.m., Oct. 27.

"I had two hours to get to the hospital. My parents were petrified, and I was in the shower shaving my legs,” she said. "My mother was like, what are you doing. And I said 'I don't know When I'll get to do this again."'

The surgery was a success, but Lessard suffered a blow five months after her transplant – her mother died of lung cancer.

“It was really hard because her resistance was down from the chemo and mine was down from the surgery so we couldn't see each other,” she said “I'd call her and tell her I loved her, but when she had an infection I couldn't kiss her. It was the hardest thing. One day, my dad called me up, and I flew over there. I laid next to her – I didn't care if I got sick – and I laid there and I held her hand and she died.

“I think she died for me. I think she died so that I could concentrate on getting better. That's who she was.”

After her' mother's death, Lessard looked for an, occupation that would allow her to help others. She found that in massage therapy and now works part time as a massage therapist at Merrimac Valley Muscular Therapy. She goes to the gym six times a week and does private fitness consultation. She doesn't know much about her donor only that he was in his mid-30s and liked to mountain climb.

"Every year on Oct. 27, 1 climb a mountain. Not a big one or anything, but I climb one, and I lay down a yellow rose. Last year because a lot had happened, I was falling in love, stuff like that, I put the rose down and looked up and asked him, this guy who gave me my life, 'You want to see me run?'

“And I ran for him.”