A 26-year-old woman is recovering from a rare third double lung transplant within eight years of being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
Duke Health announced in a press release Feb. 14 that Taylor Stephenson, 26, became its 13th patient to undergo surgery for a third double lung transplant in January, after her second set of lungs appeared to have failed.
Stephenson told local news outlet WRAL that her health journey began when she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of 9 months. She was given medication and received treatment, but by the time she was 16 it was clear she needed new lungs and she underwent her first transplant.
She was fine for a while, but a few years later her body started rejecting her lungs and she had to undergo a second transplant. “I’ve always said this is the last one,” Stephenson told CBS17.
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However, her body also began to reject her other set of lungs, leading to difficulty breathing. This time it got so bad that they put her on an oxygen tank.
She recalled for the exit: “It’s like you’re suffocating, and that’s probably the worst feeling, waking up several times in the night gasping for air.”
However, Stephenson said she knew she had decided to stay alive, telling CBS17, “I’m like, ‘I’m only 25 years old, I don’t want to die yet. I still have so much fight in me.’ ”
She told the outlet that she “didn’t even think it was possible” to undergo a third double lung transplant, but still tried to see what options were available. She “called transplant centers around the country” to see if she could get “specialized care” for a third transplant, according to Duke Health.
Several hospitals have turned her down since the procedure has only been successful in a handful of hospitals, according to WRAL. Stephenson said she was “devastated” at the time.
“I didn’t want to hear no,” she added. “I thought my life would end there.”
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However, Duke Health took a chance and she was eventually accepted into its transplant program. She then moved temporarily from Oklahoma to North Carolina to begin the care and transplant process.
“I got another chance,” she told CBS17.
Duke Health said in its release that Stephenson underwent transplant surgery in January and has since made great strides toward recovery. The health system noted that when she first woke up after the surgery, she stood up and walked 50 feet that day — an incredible feat for someone who had undergone this type of surgery.
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Stephenson then walked 200 feet the next day and was recently placed in physical therapy to continue the recovery process, Duke Health noted.
“She is committed to achieving milestones in her progress through intensive rehabilitation, overjoyed to be able to breathe again,” the health system said in a statement.
Stephenson told CBS17 she hopes her story will inspire others with cystic fibrosis to keep going and not give up.
“I want other people to know that a third transplant is an option,” she said. Your life doesn’t have to end.”
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Source: HIS Education