Donald Sutherland carries an oxygen tank and tube to help him breathe — and a medical expert says the former four-pack-a-day smoker appears to be suffering from a deadly lung condition!
After seeing photos of the screen legend trying to hide his breathing equipment at London’s Heathrow Airport on Nov. 13,
The National ENQUIRER learned from New York-based internist
Dr. Stuart Fischer that Sutherland "seems to be suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“This is a debilitating and incurable lung illness, usually due to smoking," said Dr. Fischer. "Some people label it as emphysema. Most sufferers require oxygen either continuously or to have it available on constant standby. It’s as if you’re always at high altitude.”
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The doc, who hasn’t treated Sutherland, notes COPD limits air intake so severely, “most people become dependent on oxygen tanks for their survival.” He also warns the breath-robbing condition “is potentially fatal.” But The Dirty Dozen icon’s rep insists her client isn’t in danger.
“He has a non-life-threatening condition that occasionally requires him to use oxygen on an airplane," said the rep. “He is by no means in danger of collapse or a fatal episode.” She says the "M*A*S*H" star is hardy enough to be doing “two projects simultaneously for the better part of six months.”
But a source close to the actor — whose son is "Designated Survivor" star
Kiefer Sutherland — says Donald puffed four packs a day “back in the ’60s and ’70s” and adds “it wouldn’t be surprising at all to find out that he had COPD, even though he quit smoking cold turkey decades ago.”
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After he stopped puffing, Donald became a fanatic about anyone smoking near him — and kept cigarette users at least 100 yards away on movie sets, said the source, adding that it would be “a bitter irony” for the star to have developed COPD.
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