SHARE Trey Schwab (right) speaks about his double-lung transplant during a 2003 news conference in Madison. He is flanked by the surgeon, Dr. Robert Love. Associated Press

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Once given a second chance at life through a double-lung transplant, Trey Schwab made his mark in the years that followed by trying to help others in similar circumstances receive that same opportunity.

Schwab's quest ended Sunday, a little more than 12 years after receiving his transplant, as he died from complications stemming from the rejection of those lungs.

He was 50.

A native of Nowata, Okla., Schwab's connection to Milwaukee dates back to the summer of 2001, when he was hired to Tom Crean's staff as special assistant for the Marquette University men's basketball team after stints in the CBA and with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves.

Shortly after arriving at MU, Schwab began experiencing pneumonia-like symptoms that would not subside. By Christmas of that year doctors had diagnosed him with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease.

Schwab waited more than two years before receiving a double-lung transplant in a seven-hour surgery at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison. Then, less than three weeks later, he suffered a massive pulmonary embolism and cardiac arrest.

Schwab was saved by emergency surgery performed by his transplant surgeon, Robert Love, who just so happened to be making rounds in the intensive care unit at the time he collapsed.

Schwab eventually recovered fully and in 2005 took a job advocating for the transplant program at UW Hospital. It was there he found a calling that was as near and dear to his heart as basketball.

"When the opportunity came up to get into this new line of work, it was something I hadn't really thought of," he told WITI-TV in a February interview. "But the more I thought about it the more it seemed like a natural fit, just given what I'd been through. I've just really been blessed these last 11 years or so to work with an outstanding group of people.

"Together we've achieved a lot. We didn't have a donor registry in 2005 when I started here. It took us until 2010 to get that up and going. To see that grow now, and to see the number of lives we've been able to save through slowly increasing the number of transplants and making it easier for people to say yes to donation ... it's really important."

Schwab's condition again took a turn for the worse about a decade after his transplant. The oxygen tanks, which had become his lifeline during his initial battle with IPF, eventually returned.

"The first 10 years were great. I had no health issues, no hiccups," he told WITI-TV. "Then about two years ago I got a really bad infection that kind of started a chain reaction of some things and my lungs have been getting rejected by my body now for close to two years.

"A lot of damage has been done."

Schwab's only hope in recent months was a re-transplant surgery. But due to his age and declining health, the opportunity never materialized.

"Re-transplants on lungs are a difficult surgery," he acknowledged in the WITI-TV interview. "It's fairly rare; they don't do a lot of them, so it's kind of a long shot even to get back on the list. And then you're kind of in the same waiting game as before."

Despite his declining health, the affable Schwab stayed as involved in the game of basketball as he could. He made frequent trips to the BMO Harris Bradley Center after recovering from his transplant, taking in both college and NBA games. Various coaching colleagues, former players and assorted other acquaintances also had been visiting Schwab in recent months.

In his nationally televised post-game interview following Indiana's victory over Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, Crean promised Schwab a phone call.

There's no question Schwab left an impression on everyone he came into contact with both in the game of basketball and in raising organ donor awareness.

"It's tough. But I had 10 great years," he told WITI-TV when asked to reflect on his life. "I had 10 years where I was able to do pretty much anything I wanted. I didn't really have any health issues. I was able to go play golf, do things with family, travel. Things that I never would have had the opportunity to do unless I had gotten the transplant. I would have been dead.

"I was very, very fortunate to get that second chance. But like I've told people, if this all ended tomorrow, or I don't wake up in the morning, I've had a great life. I've been able to do a lot of things. I've packed a lot into 50 years.

"But like all of us, you'd like to stretch it out a little further."

Schwab advocated for organ-donor awareness for over a decade. If you are interested in learning more about becoming an organ donor, check the following resources:

https://health.wisconsin.gov/

donorRegistry/public/donate.html

http://donatelifewisconsin.org/