Christmas Morning

 

Our Family Story:
My Brother’s Incredible Health Journey

As my brother said, “I wish someone had
told me about NAC years ago.”

This website was created to do just that – tell you about the difference NAC can make in your health and that not all NAC is alike. Unless you’re taking stable, active NAC, you could be wasting your time and money. Or worse, missing out on the benefits.

My brother owns and manages an international business, has a beautiful, loving family with children and pets, and seems to be living the American dream. But years ago, he started feeling the cost of a lung disease he’d had as a teenager. I remember back then, when the doctors told him there was no cure, and it would either stay the same, kill him or go away! There had only been 10 reported cases of this, and they didn’t know much about it. So, he had a lung lavage, which is basically rinsing them out. Together with his unshakable will to be healthy, he seemed to have won. But the scar tissue eventually increased, and he became more and more short of breath. The sight of a flight of stairs increasingly got more depressing. Mucus became a big problem, especially in the morning.

Then he started getting colds, bronchitis and flu, shrinking away from situations were he might catch something. Things got much worse when he contracted pneumonia twice and developed bronchiectasis, one of the COPD conditions, and then pulmonary fibrosis. Even though he was dealing with health issues, he still had a family and business to maintain. He needed help. He was next to tears when he told me he was afraid he wouldn’t be there for his children as they grew up. My brother is a smart guy with a big heart and as stubborn as can be sometimes. When his newest doctor’s best advice was, “Don’t smoke, and try not to get sick,” he wouldn’t accept that nothing could be done. Add that to being determined, and his mind was set on finding an answer. He spent hours upon hours researching on the internet, and found out about one of the most researched supplements in the world: an amino acid derivative called N-acetyl cysteine or NAC for short. (The Germans call it ACC, but it’s the same thing.) After he had read countless medical studies about NAC, he knew he had found his answer. But he now he needed to find the most effective, highest quality he could. He started using effervescent (fizzy) NAC from Germany early in 2004, and it has been such a godsend for him, that he wanted to tell as many people as he could, who were in a similar situation. So we started this company to show you the research he found, and offer the the most stable, active NAC you can get, outside of injections and prescriptions.
 
The Whole Story-in my brother’s words
About thirty-five years ago, I started noticing that I was becoming short of breath more easily, and coughing up junk, without having a cold. Long story short, I was finally diagnosed with a rare lung condition called Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP). At that time, there weren’t more than a handful of people who had contracted this condition. It had killed some people, but I got VERY lucky. I had moved to New York City, and the condition worsened. My hometown lung specialist recommended that I see Dr. Harry Steinberg at Long Island Jewish Hospital. He became something of a hero to me. I had no health insurance at the time, but recognizing the rare nature of my condition, arranged for me to have a whole lung lavage, which had never been done at LIJH. It was done as a case study, and all for free. I was in the hospital for a week, and they literally ‘washed out’ my lungs with salt water, one at a time (of course). My luck didn’t stop there; within six months, the condition went in to complete remission, and although left with some scarring and a slightly reduced lung capacity, I lived a relatively normal life for almost 20 years. In the meantime, I had moved to Maryland. Then about fifteen years ago, I had two cases of walking pneumonia. Who knew there was a pneumonia vaccine, that anyone at risk for lung infections should get? Not me. After that, I started to get bronchitis at least twice a year. With each subsequent case, my bronchial tubes took longer to heal, and eventually I developed bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis. I was always able to maintain a cardiovascular routine on my elliptical and rower, but got short of breath much more easily walking up steps, etc. Again, because of the rare condition I had all those years ago, I was accepted as a patient by the head of pulmonary medicine at Johns Hopkins. After a CAT scan confirmed the diagnosis (but quieted deeper fears of cancer, etc), and pulmonary function tests put my current lung capacity at about 60%, I was pretty much told to ‘try to avoid lung infections, don’t smoke, and get new PFTs each year’. That was it. It wasn’t enough.

I started obsessively researching my condition to see how I could help myself. This is when I first came across NAC. I read study after study from Europe about how it was shown to reduce acute exacerbations of bronchitis, mostly in COPD patients. Though my condition was more a restrictive one, rather than obstructive, it had some similarities, mostly to do with mucous hypersecretion, but certainly in frequent bouts of bronchitis. It was well tolerated, with almost zero side effects. I had to get some. An important thing I found was to make sure to take a multiple vitamin with zinc and selenium, since NAC tends to reduce those, only because the body naturally uses its zinc and selenium to bind to toxins for insulation from them, and NAC removes those toxins along with the zinc and selenium. (Further research found that meat and nuts had the zinc and selenium needed.) Using the requisite resourcefulness, I obtained some from Holland, and started taking it in the spring of 2004. I took 600 mg effervescent tabs, twice a day. At that time I was paying about a dollar a tab, but soon found a German source for about half the price. Fast forward to November 2007. I had exactly ONE case of bronchitis since MAY 2004! And it was milder than all the preceding cases. Not only that, I barely even had a cold. I get a flu shot every year, got a pneumonia vaccination in Fall 2004 (another result of my own research), and felt like at least for the time being, I was winning my personal battle. Even the doctors at Johns Hopkins were somewhat impressed, though they maintain that it’s anecdotal evidence. That’s OK, it’s MY anecdote, and no one knows their body like you do. Then I started thinking about how I wish someone had told me about NAC years ago. Again, long story short, we have found a way to make the effervescent form of this powerful antioxidant amino acid available here. This is pharmaceutical quality NAC, made in Germany. It’s got a great berry taste, and it’s the taste of health to me. Take time to read through the science of NAC. Educate yourself. If we’re able to make a difference for people, then maybe we can be what Dr. Harry Steinberg was to me.
Sincerely,
A.J. Sadlier
Story Update

After slowing down the progression of pulmonary fibrosis, bronchiectasis, and interstitial pneumonitis for eight years, using effervescent NAC, it finally reached a point where my brother started to research lung transplants. Living only five hours from one of the top three transplant hospitals in the country, he went to Duke University for an evaluation, was put on the list for a double lung transplant and moved to temporary quarters there in September of 2008. On October 27, 2008, he received a very successful double lung transplant. After 13 years with new lungs (average life expectancy after transplant is only 5 years) he can run up the stairs, and has continued taking NAC religiously. There has been substantial research in Europe on transplant prolongation using NAC, and even the renowned Head of Transplant Research at Duke, Dr. Scott Palmer, told him that when grant monies become available, NAC is on his list to study. Even though the doctors there can’t ‘officially’ recommend it yet, they know he uses it and don’t object. During those 13 years, his wife and children had many cases of common colds, or flu, but he, even with a suppressed immune system, has only had a few very mild colds. He calls NAC his ‘surrogate immune system’.

Over the course of this journey with my brother, I have seen him take the reins on his health issues, do tireless research to help himself, and maintain his deliberate optimism. I never once heard him complain in all those years, or feel sorry for himself. I was with him in Durham, NC, when he got ‘the call’. We prayed together and went to Duke. I’ll never forget the look on his face when they rolled him into the operating room – a giant smile beaming for me. I can’t express the amount of respect, pride and love I have for my brother, but his story of courage, and relentless research is here to benefit others in similar situations. We believe in paying it forward for our blessings.

It is with my deepest sorrow to say that we lost him on June 15, 2022. During the pandemic, he was quarantined at home for a year, and when the vaccine became available, he wanted his life back and opted to get it. At the doctor’s office, no one told him that transplant patients are not fully protected after two weeks.  The very first time he went out of the house, he got COVID. While in the hospital for three weeks, he got C-dif, a nasty and persistent infection commonly contracted in hospitals. He spent the next 18 months in and out of the hospital, and then started having strokes. But I still never heard him complain. I continue to keep this website up to help others with lung and health issues, and to honor the legacy of my beloved brother.