Milwaukee ? Shortly after basketball assistant Trey Schwab arrived at Marquette, he and coach Tom Crean developed nasty coughs they couldn’t shake.

They figured it was fatigue, not uncommon for coaches. Both were diagnosed with pneumonia and given antibiotics.

“Two weeks later, he was a lot better, and I was a lot worse,” Schwab said.

He was told he had a rare lung disease, and his only hope was a lung transplant.

Now, the 38-year-old Schwab feels fortunate a transplant finally is near.

“The sad reality,” Schwab said, “is that a lot of folks who were ahead of me didn’t make it.”

He can say he is in the transplant list’s Top 10, a phrase that he’ll never associate with basketball rankings again.

“It’s getting close enough that at my last appointment, they explained the whole procedure to me and my family and how everything’s going to work,” Schwab said. “They don’t do that until you’re close.”

When a donor match is made, transplant surgeon Robert Love at the University of Wisconsin Medical Center will determine whether Schwab will get one lung or two. The operation will last up to 24 hours.

After the surgery, Schwab will spend up to six weeks in the hospital and another six weeks in nearby housing so he can get daily checkups and lab work, and doctors can monitor his anti-rejection medication.