22-Year-Old Woman Receives 2nd Life-Saving Double Lung Transplant
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Back in April, Morgan Yoney was facing a heartbreaking reality.
"Without a transplant, I'm not going to be able to survive it. I'm only 21 and there's so many things I want to do and...Just without it, there's nothing else we can do," she told KDKA's Brenda Waters.
Yesterday, things changed for the Greene County woman.
"Morgan got called for her double lung transplant," mother Tammy Yoney. "We got a call yesterday at 5 a.m., they had a potential donor from Chicago."
The lungs were a match. The donor was type O positive.
Morgan's surgery at UPMC Presbyterian began at 7:30 a.m., and she wasn't alone. More than 20 family members joined her at the hospital.
"Just grateful that she is being given a second chance, third chance really, to try to live a normal life," father Bob Yoney said.
Bob Yoney said his daughter has been given a third chance because when her own lungs failed due to cystic fibrosis, she underwent her first double lung transplant at age 15.
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Three years later, her body would reject them. Thursday morning marked her third chance at life.
Brenda Waters: What are you hoping for?
Bob Yoney: For her to just be a normal 22-year-old, to be able to go out and do stuff and not be limited by the number of oxygen tanks she has to take with her.
She had nearly completed her first year at Slippery Rock when she became ill.
"She said, 'Mom, I don't want to go back right away, I want to live a little bit.' She wants to travel, spend time with her niece. She has a new little niece," Yoney said.
The Yoneys are grieving for the donor's family.
"Here we are celebrating and we have hopes and you have a family that is grieving and has just given our family this new lease on life," Tammy Yoney said.
The surgery was a success.
"Just can't wait to talk to her," Bob Yoney said.
"God has this and he is going to take care of her," Tammy Yoney said.
