Rex Williams smoked most of his adult life.

“When he was younger, they didn’t have precautions on cigarettes,” said LaVonda Norcross, Williams’ daughter. “People kept telling him that he’d get this or that, but he never thought it would happen to him.”

Now, at 51, Williams is awaiting a risky and rare double lung transplant at the only hospital that would accept him for the operation.

He has emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD.

The disease is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States, killing 119,524 Americans annually, according to the American Lung Assn.

Williams was diagnosed with the disease in 1995 and since then has been on disability. Before his illness, Williams had a career with Cisco Foods in Olathe, beginning as a truck driver, moving to sales and ending in management.

Since going on disability, Williams has baby-sat for his grandchildren, 3-year-old Makenna and 8-month-old Tessa. Williams’ wife, Judy Williams, said leaving the grandchildren would be difficult.

“Ever since he became disabled, he’s always been with them every morning,” she said. “It’s going to be the hardest part of relocating.”

Williams and his wife will move from their Lawrence home in early April because Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City was the only hospital that agreed to the transplant.

Rex Williams baby-sits his 8-month-old granddaughter Tessa Norcross while his wife, Judy, and their granddaughter Makenna Norcross visit at left. Rex, 51, has emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is awaiting a risky double lung transplant.

Williams said few hospitals in the country perform double-lung transplants because the procedure is so dangerous. He said there was a 15 percent chance he would die on the operating table, and only 60 percent of patients survive the first year after surgery. After the first year, he said, survival rates were much better.

Judy Williams said the experience had affected her outlook on life.

“It made us realize how important we are to each other,” she said. “I think it’s solidified the fact that you have to demonstrate that love while you have it, because later you may not be able to.”

Williams said his illness had made him concerned for people who continue to smoke.

“My son smokes,” Williams said. “I wrote him a letter trying to get him to quit, saying he can see what it did to me and how it affected my life. I’m definitely against smoking now.”

Judy Williams said she would be eager to return home as soon as possible, but it may take up to a year for her husband to recover enough to move again.

After he recovers, Williams will have to return to the hospital for checkups every few months. He also will have to take 20 different medications the rest of his life.

Those medications will cost the couple about $75,000 to last through Williams’ life, Judy Williams said. She said medical insurance from her job at Sears would pay for the operation itself but would not fully cover postoperation medications.

The family hopes fund-raisers will ease some of the financial burdens. There will be a charity luncheon at 12:30 p.m. April 5 at Clinton Parkway Assembly of God. The luncheon will feature a potato salad bar donated by Cliff and Julie Pash, Lawrence. Lonie Curtiss, Ella Curtiss-Downing and Dailyn Downing, from Cameron, Mo., will sing. Tickets are $25 for a couple or $15 per person and may be purchased at any Central National Bank location.

Accounts are also set up at all Central National Bank locations and at Kaw Valley State Bank in Eudora for people to donate money for Williams.