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Local Sports

Local sports in the Panhandle are not just a game, they are a lifestyle. Our community eats, sleeps and breathes cheering on our local athletes.
News13 is On Your “Sidelines” bringing you more than the score.
News13’s Stephen Gunter is committed to giving you stories of the Panhandle’s top athletes, intriguing match-ups and unusual sports you may not even know exist.
sgunter@wmbb.com

Monday, May 08, 2006

“One Breath From Death”

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - “Every time I took a breath, I thought it was my last one.

“I kept telling the doctors, ‘I can’t breath! I can’t breath!’”

In December 2004, Bob Brubaker was suffering from a bacterial infection in his lungs.

While in Intensive Care, his lung collapsed and was releasing air throughout his body.

“On my last breath, the doctor said, ‘it’s time for a chest tube, stand by,’ then boom! He stabbed me!”

The doctor jammed the chest tube between Brubaker’s ribs to release the pressure.

But he wasn’t out of harm’s way yet.

The air that was released caused his body to expand five times!

“My eyes looked swollen shut, I was terrible to look at.  We laugh at it now, doctors tell me that most people don’t live through something like that.”

What began as a respiratory problem was now a major ordeal.

Brubaker was no stranger to struggles, since he’s completed 14 triathlons.  But, this would be the toughest course.

“In November, I completed a triathlon, 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run, now I was being wheeled through an airport in March.”

Doctors advised Brubaker, that he needed to get help at the National Jewish Medical Center in Denver, Colo.

“I couldn’t get in till March.  I was getting more sick day by day.

“They took tests and tests, what was supposed to be a two-week stay turned into a six-week stay.”

It was found that Brubaker’s condition was a diffuse pan bronchial respiratory infection, which is usually found in people of Asian descent.

Brubaker is the first reported case in a Caucasian.

“Had I not been an Ironman, I never would have made it through.”

Thirteen months later, Brubaker is fully recoved and ready for his first triathlon since being one breath from death.

He’ll make his return to the sport at the Gulf Coast Triathlon on May 13.

What appeared to be Brubaker’s last gasp of air, was his first breath of a new life.

“There’s hope in life, even when things look dark and dim.”

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