Husband’s lung transplant inspires her to embark on new career

October 19-25 is Respiratory Care Week. Here’s the story of how one wife and mother decided to pursue a second career as a respiratory therapist.

By TJ Banes, IU Health Senior Journalist, tfender1@iuhealth.org

For most of their married life, Cara and Jason Hopkins were focused on career and family. On November 25^th they will celebrate 19 years of marriage. They have two daughters – Tennyson, 16, and Guinevere, 14. Both names were inspired by the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson and the family’s love for theater.

Their lives were full – running the girls to rehearsals and community theater. Cara was working as a behavior therapist at an autism center; Jason worked as a technical account manager in IT. After high school, Jason joined the United States Marine Corps and served eight years, including two tours to Afghanistan.

“He was healthy most of his life. He just had a cough, but it didn’t hinder him in any way,” said Cara. But then in May of 2023, he was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease (a chronic lung condition that causes inflammation and scarring of the lung tissue) and pulmonary fibrosis. He had also started getting migraines and his health began declining.

He spent two weeks in the hospital, was discharged and returned two weeks later.

“They did so many tests and consults with doctors and it was determined he had a very fast and progressive form of pulmonary fibrosis. He then came to Methodist in July 2023 and was transplanted about 10 days after his arrival,” said Cara. Jason was 41at the time.

At IU Health he was in the care of Dr. Chadrick Denlinger. In practice since 2009, Dr, Denlinger specializes in surgery for lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and lung cancer transplantation.

It was during Jason’s recovery that Cara was inspired to pursue a career as a respiratory therapist.

“I spent a lot of time with the ECMO clinicians, working in 12-hour shifts. They always explained exactly what they were doing,” said Cara. ECMO is a temporary life support system that provides heart and lung support by removing carbon dioxide from the blood and adding oxygen outside the body. “The nurses were also phenomenal with their care and treatment and I was intrigued by respiratory therapy,” said Cara.

While attending IVY Tech full time, she also spends two days a week at IU Health as a respiratory therapist assistant, working under a licensed respiratory therapist. She plans to complete her degree by May and hopes to work in some area of organ donation.

“This has been a good fit and seeing it save my husband’s life, makes all the difference.”