A terminally ill pastor from Louisville, Kentucky has been granted his wish to meet with President Donald Trump face to face so that he could raise awareness of his debilitating disease.
Pastor Mike Olsen, who leads Iona Community Church, is not able to go anywhere without an oxygen tank as he suffers from a terminal lung disease known as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).
Doctors say that the disease kills more than 30,000 patients each year - the same number as breast cancer victims - with no known cause and no known cure.
Olsen's dying wish to raise awareness about the disease was granted last Thursday when he was invited to the White House to meet the President.
"I said, 'I'm trying to raise awareness for this disease,' and I said, 'it's so important I get the word out about this,'" the pastor said, according to WDRB.
IPF causes a build-up of scar tissue in the lungs that eventually leads to them shutting down, but most people are not aware of the disease.
"My lungs are shriveling up. They're dying. It's like a crushing feeling in my rib cage," Olsen said.
The ailing pastor was given two years to live when he was first diagnosed in December 2014. Although he has already outlived the diagnosis by more than a year, his health has entered steep decline.
"I'm retaining CO2 and what that means is my lungs have gotten so bad now I can't push the oxygen out. I'm just little pastor from Kentucky, but I'm trying to make a difference, and hopefully I am," he said.
Olsen's hopes of meeting with Trump were roused when he met Vice President Mike Pence during his stop in Versailles, Kentucky earlier this month. He had the chance to meet Pence and explain his mission to spread the word about IPF and raise money for research to find a cure. Moved by the pastor's efforts, Pence arranged for a VIP tour of the White House and a meeting with the president.
The pastor, however, was too sick to fly to Washington D.C., but he went on to share the news of his "bucket list" invite to the White House on social media.
His story caught the attention of a complete stranger Wendall Day, who had recently started Family Fun R.V. Rentals in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. She offered to chauffeur Olsen to D.C. in an R.V. for free. With his new friends and their wives, the pastor went on a five-day round-trip from Louisville to the nation's Capitol.
"Despite what you see on the news, he's very kind and warm. He took time out of world affairs and really listened to me," Olsen said of President Trump.
Olsen is still on a lung transplant waiting list with Jewish Hospital in Louisville. The pastor believes that although the new lungs are not a cure, they have in some cases been able to extend the life of IPF patients for as much as 10 years.
Donations to help cover Pastor Olsen's extensive medical costs can be made on his YouCaring donation page
