DECATUR - Frank Meadows, 73, was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, 14 years ago. Since that day, just to survive, he has had to carry an oxygen tank everywhere he goes.

"You can live with it and make life enjoyable, or you can give up, and I chose to get as much out as I could," said Meadows.

According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fact sheet, COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the country, and its key risk factors include shortness of breath, a chronic cough, difficulty doing daily activities, having worked or lived around chemicals or fumes and being a current or former smoker older than 40.

Meadows, a former salesman, has been married to his wife, Karen, for 33 years, and said his breathing problems began as a high school student. Now he must carefully monitor and manage the disease.

"When I was working, I went to work," he said. "Now I go to work to live."

Every day, when it's time for "The Price is Right," Meadows heads to his garage for some exercise, an integral part of his disease management. He works out every day, keeping a log of time spent walking on his treadmill, riding an exercise bike and lifting weights.

Jack Pearce Jr. 46, another area resident with COPD, became symptomatic shortly after he turned 35 and continued to get worse. At 40, the once avid golfer and baseball coach couldn't make it up the steps at work.

He found out his COPD is due to alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic condition in which he lacks a liver protein that protects the lungs from being damaged by a naturally occurring enzyme.

Pearce said he was told he wasn't a candidate for a lung transplant because he is too healthy. Doctors guaranteed him two years to live.

"So I sat on the couch for two years and waited to die," he said.

But in that period of uncertainty, he started to live in a new way. Pearce started in pulmonary rehabilitation, also doing vital exercise to increase his health. And he undergoes an IV therapy that works to prevent some of the lung damage of his condition.

Pearce also took a new job in which he travels across the country to educate doctors and patients and raise awareness of the disease. According to a 2009 survey of COPD knowledge among adults in the U.S., one quarter of the population has a connection to the disease.

With hopes of fostering community awareness and providing resources for those living with COPD, St. Mary's Hospital and a variety of community agencies and businesses are hosting the "Language of Lungs" World COPD Day health fair this Wednesday.

The fair will include educational speakers on topics relating to diagnosing and living with COPD. Screenings for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, blood sugar and blood pressure, oxygen tank refills, flu vaccinations and a variety of other services and information booths also will be available.

agetsinger@herald-review.com|421-6968