Woman, 26, Recovers from 3rd Double Lung Transplant in 8 Years: ‘I Was Getting Another Chance’
“I’m only 25, I don’t want to die yet. I’ve still got so much fight in me,” the woman said of deciding to get a third double lung transplant
WRAL/Youtube
Taylor StephensonA 26-year-old woman is recovering after having a rare third double lung transplant within eight years after being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
Duke Health announced in a news release on 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 be failing.
Stephenson told local news outlet WRAL that her health journey began when she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 9-months-old. She was put on medication and received treatment, but by the time she was 16, it was clear that she needed a new set of lungs and underwent her first transplant.
It went well for a time, but several years later, her body began to reject the lungs and she needed to undergo a second transplant. “I’d always said this is the last one,” Stephenson told CBS17.
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However, her body also began to reject her second set of lungs, leading to difficulties with her breathing. This time, it had gotten so bad that she was placed on an oxygen tank.
She recalled to the outlet, “It’s like you’re suffocating and that’s probably the scariest feeling, waking up in the night several times gasping for air.”
However, Stephenson said that she knew that was determined to stay alive, telling CBS17, “I’m like, ‘I’m only 25, I don’t want to die yet. I’ve still got 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 all over the country” to see if she would be able to get “specialized care” for a third transplant, according to Duke Health.
Several hospitals had turned her down since the procedure had only been done successfully at a handful of hospitals, according to WRAL. Stephenson told the outlet that at that point, she “was devastated.”
“I didn’t want to hear no,” she added. “I thought that’s where my life was going to end.”
However, Duke Health took a chance and she was eventually accepted into its transplant program. She then temporarily moved from Oklahoma to North Carolina to begin the care and transplant process.
“I was getting another chance,” she told CBS17.
Duke Health said in its release that Stephenson underwent the transplant surgery in January and had made huge strides toward recovery since then. The health care system noted that when she first awoke from her surgery, she got up and walked 50 ft. that day — an incredible feat for someone who had undergone this type of surgery.
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Stephenson then walked 200 ft. the next day, and she has recently been put on physical therapy to continue her recovery process, Duke Health noted.
“She is committed to hitting milestones of progress through intense rehabilitation, ecstatic to be able to breathe again,” the health system said in a statement.
Stephenson told CBS17 that she hoped her story would 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 does not have to end."
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