Lung Transplant Patient and Father of 18 Encourages First Responders to get COVID-19 Vaccine

Many first responders across the country are currently fighting mandates to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but one local man is hoping they will hear his powerful message about why they should get vaccinated.

For Daniel Corcoran, a 71-year-old father of 18 children, each breath is a blessing.

“I had pulmonary fibrosis which is a strange disease where scar tissue grows in your lungs destroys it,” Corcoran, a Lake Arrowhead resident said. 

In order to save his life, he had to get a lung transplant.

Corcoran also says he's fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but because of his extremely weakened immune system he's still at high risk.

“I was involved in a study at UCLA and my body produced no antibody response,” Corcoran said. “And because I did not respond to the vaccine it's logical to then say that if I should encounter the virus I would die, I would not survive.”

Corcoran says about two months ago his mother in law had a medical emergency at his home in Lake Arrowhead.

When firefighters arrived, he says some of them weren't wearing masks, and that immediately raised fears of possible COVID-19 exposure.

“Not only was it dangerous to my mother in law who is ill and was in very poor condition, it was very dangerous for me,” Corcoran said. 

“I don't want to attack the guys that came there, I respect the first responders and I would give my life to defend them,” he added.

Corcoran says that incident also made him question why so many police officers and firefighters across the country are refusing to get vaccinated.

“You hear the argument that only one percent of people die of COVID, ok, well I'm that one percent,” Corcoran said. “The group of society that's most susceptible is the group that is most likely to encounter emergency personnel; they are the ones who are going to get sick and call an ambulance.”

Which is why Corcoran doesn't understand why some first responders won't add that extra layer of protection, he's hoping they will take his words to heart.

“Forget the politics, let's get down to basic human dignity, basic things we agree on and the right to be alive is first and we should never do anything unnecessarily to jeopardize someone else's life,” Corcoran said.