Randy Mott's best Christmas gift arrived on New Year's Day.

That's when Randy, a freshman at Rapid City Central High School, got new lungs - and a new lease on life. Now, he's breathing on his own without oxygen for the first time in more than a year.

"He's doing great," said his mom, Debi Mott. "As he says, this is his new beginning."

Randy, now 15, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 3. The genetic disease makes the body produce thick mucus, affecting the lungs and making it difficult to breathe and digest food.

Despite medication and daily therapy sessions, doctors decided his best option for fighting the disease was a lung transplant. After undergoing medical tests at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, he was put on the organ waiting list last June.

The call came early on the afternoon of Dec. 31. Debi Mott had just dropped Randy off at the Boys Club when her phone rang. She turned around, picked him up, and by 2 p.m. the family was in an airplane headed for Denver.

After more tests, Randy went into surgery about 3 a.m. Jan. 1. If he was afraid, he didn't show it.

"Honest to God, he acted like it was nothing," his mother said, admitting that she shed a few tears watching him being wheeled away. "I know it was meant to be, but it's like it didn't faze him one bit. He was ready for it."

The next eight hours were long for Randy's mom, dad Randy and brother Marty, who waited in the hospital. But by midday, Randy had new lungs.

He wasn't aware of it right away.

"The first 24 hours is I guess you would say critical, because that's the initial healing process," Debi Mott said. "They keep them sedated to keep them from moving around so much."

Randy woke up on a ventilator with four tubes in his chest. The ventilator was removed Saturday, two days after his surgery. By Wednesday, he was down to one chest tube. He is up and walking. And aside from the aches and pains associated with major surgery, he's feeling better.

For the first time since August 2007, Randy is breathing without supplemental oxygen. He is out of intensive care but still in isolated care because of the risk of infection after an organ transplant.

"We have to wear masks and gowns to be around him right now," Debi Mott said Wednesday. "They're really worried about germs."

Randy takes those concerns seriously. When his mother brought him a pepperoni pizza for lunch, he was willing to share - but he told her "if you touch that (piece), you eat it," she said with a chuckle.

Doctors expect Randy to leave the hospital sometime in the next week, but he won't go far. He needs to stay close by for the next three months while doctors make sure his new lungs are working properly. He'll have regular check-ups, and doctors will be adjusting his medication, including the anti-rejection drugs Randy will take for the rest of his life.

Currently Debi and Marty Mott are staying at the Ronald McDonald House, a home away from home for families of seriously ill children. If Randy's doctors feel it is an appropriate place for Randy to recuperate, Debi Mott and the boys will stay there for the next three months.

Randy Mott Sr., who is retired, will travel back and forth between Aurora and Rapid City while his son recuperates.

Marty, a seventh grader, starts public school in Aurora today, despite his efforts to convince his mom he didn't need to go. "He has to wear uniforms down here," she explained.

Money will be tight. Debi Mott had to give up her job at the community health center when Randy went into the hospital last summer. She has used up her Family Medical Leave Act allotment.

"It's going to be expensive," she said. "We have the mortgage and stuff there (in Rapid City), and then having to practically do another house payment here. …."

The Ronald McDonald House charges $15 per night - far less than a motel, but still costly over time. Some donated food is available, but families need to buy their own perishables, such as milk, bread and fruit. There also are travel costs for Randy's dad.

A fund to help the family has been set up at Dacotah Federal Credit Union in Rapid City.

"We thank (anyone who wants to help) from the bottom of our hearts," Debi said. "We've had so many prayers from the Boys Club and the school and people, … it's just been great."

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, about 900 lung transplants are performed yearly in the United States. More than 90 percent of CF patients receiving lung transplants survive the first year, a rate "as good as or better than for those with other lung diseases," the foundation's Web site states. The University of Colorado Hospital's Web site says lung transplant survival rates there are above the national average.

Lung transplants do not "cure" cystic fibrosis. Although the new lungs will not have CF, anti-rejection drugs can decrease the body's ability to fight other germs that can infect the new lungs.

Randy is anxious to give his lungs a workout.

"He's dying to get back to skateboarding," Debi said. He tried skating with his oxygen tank, she said, but it didn't work very well. "It threw his balance off."

Randy's also anxious to start swimming, and he would like to run track. "I said, 'Well, we'll just take it step by step,'" Debi Mott said.

Randy, for one, is confident about his future. "I'm a survivor," he said.

To see what fundraisers have been established to help Mott, click here.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com