Duke Hospital Performs Life-Saving Lung Transplant

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – A life-saving surgery at Duke Hospital is giving a young woman a chance she feared she wouldn’t have. Taylor Stevenson recently underwent her third double lung transplant at just 26 years old.

For Stevenson, playing a simple game of fetch with his dog means the world. It is a sign of health and hope and a life-saving gift.

Not long ago, she was hooked up to an oxygen tank and struggling to breathe.

“It felt like I was suffocating, and that was probably the scariest thing,” she recalled. “I wake up many times during the night gasping for breath.”

Born with cystic fibrosis, Stevenson received her first double lung transplant as a teenager, but years later her body started rejecting the new lungs. She was grateful to receive her second transplant.

“I always said this was the last time,” she said.

Everything went well for a while, but last year she was shocked to find out she was facing rejection again.

“I don’t want to die yet because I’m only 25 years old. There’s still so much fight inside me,” Stevenson recalled thinking. At the time, she didn’t know that her third transplant was an option. “I never thought that was possible,” she said.

Although third lung transplants are rare, Duke Hospital performs more lung transplants than any other hospital in the United States.

“There are about 15 done in the country. We’ve done 13 of them,” explained Dr. John Reynolds, medical director of the Duke University Lung Transplant Program. “We have patients not only from this region, but from all over the country and, in fact, all over the world.”

Stevenson cried when she learned Duke would undergo his third double lung transplant. Her first two transplants were performed at other hospitals. “I had a second chance,” she said.

She temporarily moved from Oklahoma to Durham for surgery and recovery. While she misses home, she considers her medical team her second family. She credits them and her faith with getting her through.

“It feels great to have all these people on my side,” she said.

It’s been about a month since the transplant, and Dr. Reynolds calls her progress “incredible.” Stevenson was able to breathe easier and her energy grew day by day.

She hopes the donor’s family knows how grateful she is. “I want them to know how much respect I have for these lungs,” she said.

One day she would like to climb a mountain, but before that she has some plans for her dog Milly.

“We’re going to keep going for walks,” she said with a smile.

Dr. Reynolds hopes Stevenson’s story will inspire other patients. Stevenson wants that too. “I want others to know that a third transplant is an option,” she says. “Your life doesn’t have to end.”

While in the hospital, Stevenson earned an associate’s degree in psychology and said she may eventually pursue a career in pharmacy.

She wants to help other transplant patients and cystic fibrosis patients.

“I know I can at least offer some comfort,” she said. “It may not always be sunshine and roses, but there is always light.”