What does a “dry run” mean? Well, I received the call from my transplant coordinator that the hospital had a potential lung donor that matched my specifications (blood type, antibodies, size). For the first call, I was already admitted to the hospital for a lung infection. I had only been on the transplant list for about 12 hours, so it was definitely shocking! I told everyone. I was prepped for surgery and brought down to the surgery holding area. After as surgeon inspected the lungs (essentially in the moments before I would have been brought back to surgery) and decided the donor lungs would not be suitable for me. The donor had been involved in a car accident causing damage to one of the lungs. This happened May16, 2019.

My second call for lungs happened while I was at home, still in bed because I was always exhausted. We arrived at the hospital that afternoon for an early morning surgery. Again I was brought to the surgery holding area. And again, the surgeon came back to let me know that the donor lungs were not viable. The lungs were infected with pneumonia. This happened June 21, 2019.

I received my third call for lungs on the morning of July 28, 2019. I had been admitted to the hospital on July 23rd with extreme shortness of breath and increased oxygen needs. Oxygen through the nasal cannula was not enough, so I was using a high volume oxygen mask. If I did not get the call that day, I was 100% sure I was not leaving the hospital. This time, all worked out with my donor’s lungs and the sugery went ahead smoothly.