Lung Transplant

At just 2 months old, Kayla Gilbert was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF). The illness severely damaged her lungs, and she received a double-lung transplant in 2008. Sadly, her new lungs went into rejection, and she found herself once again awaiting a double-lung transplant.

Moksha has experienced breathing difficulties related to allergies and asthma since childhood. In her early 30s, she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), mainly bronchiectasis, but doctors don’t know why she developed the condition. Testing has also shown that she suffers from other lung disorders including evidence of fibrosis and sarcoidosis. A double-lung transplant is essential to her survival.

In 2004, Sabrina went to the hospital because she thought she was having a heart attack.   

GALVESTON — Lung-transplant recipient Mike Bright wound up back at John Sealy Hospital a year after surgery. He wanted it that way.

“I have a lot of people to thank,” said Bright, 60, an aerospace manager from League City. “My nurses, my doctors, all of the staff — they took care of me like my mother would have.”

When Phill Locke's telephone rang Halloween evening, the caller said, "This is not a trick."

And for that, Locke was thankful.

Diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Locke, 51, of Collier Township, knew his life was limited, not only in physical movement, but also in length. Locke was dying and without a double lung transplant, he knew death was just weeks, or perhaps days, away.