A DAD whose life suddenly changed after being diagnosed with a deadly lung condition is hoping his story inspires more people to seek help.

Christopher Holden was an active dad-of-three who regularly played football and enjoyed going out with friends.

But in the last 12 months he has gone from fit and healthy to struggling to breath and is hoping to be put on a list which could save his life.

In September he received the heartbreaking news that he was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and severe emphysema.

Left untreated, people suffering from pulmonary fibrosis have a life expectancy of three to five years.

The diagnosis has changed his life forever and that of his wife Rebecca and children Harrison, aged 10, Bella-Rose aged three, and one-year-old Elliot from Breightmet.

He said: “I face either death or a transplant but it’s a long wait.

“From when I got told to now, I feel in myself a repeated deterioration. I’m obviously worried about things.

“It is a two year minimum wait for a transplant and I sometimes worry I won’t last that long.

“Sometimes it’s difficult because of the breathing sometimes it is the pain from the damage to the lungs.

“It feels like you need to open up your ribcage to breath, even getting into the bath hurts. It’s such a big change, I feel like an old man.

“Although it sounds bad I have to deal with it.”

Christopher first started noticing problems a couple of years ago when he started becoming short of breath.

The issue continued and he made regular visits to the doctor and was given medication for a chest infection.

When the problems did not clear, doctors started to do more tests before warning him in May that it could be a worse-case scenario.

Following a CT scan he eventually got the shocking results, before also finding out he had severe emphysema.

A former decorator, he had to quit his job due to his ill health and now uses a mobility scooter to help him get around, and has multiple appointments with doctors.

The condition has also affected his immune system, making him vulnerable to deadly conditions such as pneumonia.

He adds: “Fifteen years ago my mum died of the same thing. The only thing that really worries me is I saw what happened to my mum, that was the pneumonia.

“It is a complete change of lifestyle, I can’t go out and walk to the pub and you take take a mobility scooter in!”

The condition – which causes the lung tissue to become thickened and scarred over time – combined with emphysema, an inflammation, has suffocated his left lung and most of his right one.

He also admits to being a smoker before diagnosis, but has now quit.

While he waits to join the transplant list, he is speaking out in the hopes of encouraging others who may also be sufferers to seek help

He explains: “Initially I was in shock, at first I didn’t believe it.

“I used to play football all the time and I was getting to the point even before the game that I was really out of breath and I didn’t do anything about it.

“I fobbed it off and now my whole outlook has changed. I’m 35-years-old and have a mobility scooter.

“A lot of people get it later in life but I am going through it now.

“I want to raise awareness that anybody, no matter how old they are, if they are struggling to breath should visit a doctor.

“It is a long, long process ahead for me but I’m just glad they found it. How many people have passed away because of it and not even realised they had it?”

Christopher and his family are being supported through their journey by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Trust Charity, which donated the mobility scooter and has also put Christopher in touch with fellow sufferers.

He has also been reffered to a respiratory specialist based at Wythenshawe Hospital.

However, Rebecca still fears for their future as she juggles a job, caring for her husband and children and has set up a Go Fund Me campaign to help raise money to support the family and any possible treatment which may be needed in the future.

The 32-year-old said: “Double lung transplants in America are £8,000,000 and we know we would never ever be able to raise that amount of money, but I’d thought I would set up a Go Fund Me page.

“Myself and family are going to do some fund raising such as a sky dive and charity buckets to try and raise as much money as I can to help our family through what is going to be the hardest times of our lives.

“A lung transplant is possible but only when he gets worse, then there are millions of tests to go through and it depends whether he will be well enough.

“But at 35-years-old, with three young children, why should he have to suffer and miss out on doing stuff with the kids?

“I want to make sure that wherever time we have left with my husband that I can make him as happy and as comfortable as I possibly can.

“If anybody would like to help, even just a little, it would be so much appreciated.”

To donate visit www.gofundme.com/4ldn6fk.