“I don’t want to die yet”: Woman receives life-saving 3rd double lung transplant at Duke Hospital
DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – A life-saving surgery at Duke Hospital is giving a young woman a chance she worried she wouldn’t have. At just 26 years old, Taylor Stephenson recently received her third double lung transplant.
Playing a simple game of fetch with her dog means the world to Stephenson. It’s a sign of health, hope and a life-saving gift.
Not long ago, she was tethered to an oxygen tank struggling to breathe.
“It’s like you’re suffocating and that’s probably the scariest feeling,” she recalled. “Waking up in the night several times gasping for air.”
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Born with cystic fibrosis, Stephenson received her first double lung transplant as a teenager, but several years later, her body began to reject the new lungs. She was grateful to receive a second transplant.
“I’d always said this is the last one,” she said.
Everything went well for a while, but last year, she was devastated to learn she was dealing with rejection again.
“I’m like I’m only 25, I don’t want to die yet. I’ve still got so much fight in me,” Stephenson remembered thinking. At the time, she didn’t realize a 3rd transplant was an option. “I didn’t even think it was possible,” she said.
Third lung transplants are rare, but Duke Hospital has done more than any other hospital in the United States.
“There’s been about 15 done in the country; we’ve done 13 of those,” explained Dr. John Reynolds, the medical director of Duke’s Lung Transplant Program. “We have patients from not just this region, but all over the country, and all over the world actually.”
Stephenson cried when she learned Duke would perform her third double lung transplant. Her first two transplants were performed at other hospitals. “I was getting another chance,” she said.
She temporarily moved from Oklahoma to Durham for the surgery and recovery, and while she misses home she considers her medical team a second family. She credits them, and her faith, with getting her through.
“It’s an awesome feeling having these people on your side, all of them,” she said.
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It’s been about a month since her transplant, and Dr. Reynolds calls her progress “incredible.” Stephenson is breathing easily and has more energy every day.
She hopes her donor’s family knows how grateful she is. “I want them to know how much I’m going to honor these lungs,” she said.
One day, she hopes to climb a mountain, but first, she has some plans for her dog Millie.
“We’re gonna go on all the walks,” she said, smiling.
Dr. Reynolds hopes Stephenson’s story inspires other patients. Stephenson wants that too. “I want other people to know that a 3rd transplant is an option,” she said. “Your life does not have to end.”
Stephenson finished her associate’s degree in psychology while in the hospital and says she may eventually pursue a career in pharmacy.
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She wants to help other transplant patients or patients with cystic fibrosis.
“I know that I can at least give comfort,” she said. “It’s not always going to be sunshine and roses, but there will be light.”
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