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Man's long hike will celebrate asthma victory
By THERESA BLACKWELL CLEARWATER -- He was 30 years old when asthma first surfaced and breathing became a life struggle. Jim Quinlan used three inhalers, took steroids and slept next to a humidifier. Still, the asthma attacks continued and grew stronger. "We never left home without an inhaler in my purse, one in the car; and he always had one in his pocket," said his wife, Yvonne Quinlan. Then in April 1995, Jim Quinlan was skating in his neighborhood when an attack came on that the inhaler couldn't stop. He slowly rolled the half-block to his house and pounded on the door for his wife. She called 911. "Imagine someone putting a piece of plastic wrap over your face and no air getting in at all," Jim Quinlan said. "It's a feeling that I cannot describe. It was so horrible." Now, almost exactly seven years later, Jim Quinlan says he is cured of a disease often called incurable. As if to underscore his success, he is embarking Thursday on a solo, monthlong hike on the Appalachian Trail. He hopes the story of how he fought asthma and won will help other asthma sufferers. He has even set up a Web site, http://www.asthmastory.com, with details of his history, treatment with antibiotics, relevant medical literature and plans for the hike. The 1995 attack, which occurred when the couple lived in Royal Oak, Mich., convinced the Quinlans to move to Clearwater, hoping the climate might help his condition. The climate had little effect, but a pharmacist friend found information in medical journals about the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae and a possible link to asthma. Jim Quinlan had his blood tested and found he had been exposed to the bacteria, caught in the same way as the common cold. But his doctor would not prescribe the antibiotics. So Quinlan found another doctor, who read the literature and tried the antibiotic approach. After two courses of antibiotics, Quinlan said, the asthma disappeared within a year. Dr. David L. Hahn of Madison, Wis., a family doctor and medical researcher with a master's degree in epidemiology, is a leading researcher in the role of infection in asthma. He came up with Quinlan's antibiotic regimen. He has done preliminary study on Chlamydia pneumoniae and asthma and hopes to submit a grant proposal for a large study on the subject to the National Institutes of Health within six months. "There have been dramatic improvements in asthma: They are unexplained, and they beg for an explanation," Hahn said. He said widely accepted medications for asthma treat just the symptoms. Still, Hahn said he would not recommend using antibiotics except in "severe, steroid-dependent asthma -- severely symptomatic despite receiving high-dose oral steroids." He said the worst thing that could happen is if people get their doctors to give them antibiotics before there is proof that they work. "My guess is, in the next five or 10 years, we may have a solid explanation of what happened with Mr. Quinlan," Hahn said. The Quinlans will tell you they know what happened: They found a cure. "We don't even think about it. It's just gone." Yvonne Quinlan said. "That's why we think it's so important for people to find out about this." She said her husband has been preparing for the Appalachian Trail hike for the past year. He works as a computer programmer at America II Electronics of St. Petersburg and walks or rides his bike on the Gandy Bridge during lunch. He also walks from Clearwater Beach to Caladesi Island to toughen up his feet for the trail and hikes with a pack in Hillsborough River State Park. Quinlan and his wife plan to drive today to northern Georgia, to the start of the Appalachian Trail. They will hike together Thursday, and then he will hit the trail Friday for a month. He hopes to cover more than 200 miles. She will meet him at the end of May in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Jim Quinlan said he's already prepared his 37-pound backpack. One item he didn't pack: an inhaler. For informationVisit Jim Quinlan's Web site at http://www.asthmastory.com or read his journal about getting ready for the Appalachian Trail at http://www.trailjournals.com/ jimq.
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