MANCHESTER - Derrill Reed depends on a breathing machine to make it through each day. The Manchester man's lungs are useless. Doctors say a transplant is his only hope. This deathly-ill dad is doing everything he can to hide his misery from his kids.

Five minutes into a game of catch with the kids, Derrill reed calls a time-out. If he doesn’t pump up the oxygen, he’ll pass out. This 34-year-old father is fighting a rare lung disease. Right now, he’s losing.

“All of a sudden have horrible disease eating away at my lungs and have no idea how I contracted it,” says Reed.

It’s called Interstitial Lung Disease. Gradual scarring of the lungs makes breathing difficult, in Derrill’s case…impossible. Five years ago, doctors were optimistic. Today they say Derrill's flirting with death.

“They can’t really tell him how long he’s going to be with us because they’re still surprised he’s here,” says Derrill’s wife Melissa.

After months of testing at the University of Iowa's Hospitals and Clinics, Derrill tops the transplant list for lungs.

“I honestly thought a couple more years, they want it immediately,” says Derrill.

As soon as the next six months. If not, doctors say his chance of survival drops below fifty percent. There’s hope of meeting that deadline. Last year, ten pairs of lungs were available in Iowa. But Derrill discards any odds, and just doesn't think about it.

“I can’t just run off, curl up in the corner and ball and say, hey my life is so miserable, some days I want to, but you can’t,” says Derrill.

Derrill’s wife Melissa says he masks his emotions with smiles. But countless doctor visits, and the constant threat of losing each other can be too much to bottle up. Often late at night, their fears filter out.

“I think about what it would be like to raise kids alone. A widow in my thirties, that's not something I want to worry about," says Melissa.

“What worries me most is will my kids get it?” says Derrill.

Doctors aren’t sure yet if Derrill’s four girls will ever experience this misery. And they might not know until one of them shows symptoms. But just in case, Derrill's setting a powerful example.

“I live like there’s no tomorrow. When you have an illness like mine as fast as it came on, honestly could be no tomorrow for me,” says Derrill.
And that’s a challenge when one minute you’re planning a possible funeral and the next you’re playing a family game of baseball.

The University’s hospital just opened its lung transplant center in January. It’s the only hospital in Iowa that performs this surgery.