'It was a miracle' : 2 COVID-19 survivors who underwent double lung transplants at Northwestern Memorial Hospital share stories
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A young paralegal in Chicago and a car mechanic from Lake Zurich shared their stories after undergoing double lung transplants after suffering from COVID-19.
Both patients said the doctors here saved their lives. When they contracted COVID19 they both suffered severe lung failure, and now are breathing on their own.
Mayra Ramirez, 28, and 62-year-old Brian Kuhns now finally look and feel healthy.
Man becomes 2nd COVID-19 survivor to receive rare double-lung transplant
These two are the first known patients in the U.S. who survived COVID19 because of double-lung transplants. Both spent weeks in the ICU on ventilators, and life support machines.
Ramirez, who suffered from an autoimmune disease, started feeling symptoms in April, she went into the emergency room on April 26 and says from then on, everything was a blur.
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She spent six weeks on a ventilator. Her lungs showed irreversible damage. She had a transplant on June 5, and is now breathing on her own.
"I definitely have a purpose and if that purpose is just simply telling my story to raise awareness for people to stay safe and take this condition."
Kuhns, who said he was pretty healthy, suddenly felt symptoms and went into the emergency room on March 18 and his lungs were quickly deteriorating and had to have a transplant. It took place on July 5 after spending 100 days on a breathing machine.
"I feel better. I feel stronger everyday. I'm very lucky. I fell into a good place. Good people took care of me. Saved me. It's a miracle."
Doctors said both Ramirez and Kuhns would not be alive today without those transplants.
"Usually we do these lung transplants in six to eight hours and we were taking more than this, around ten hours, so that I think reveals how difficult the dissection was with all of the scarring and damage from the virus," said Dr. Rafael Garza Castillon, thoracic surgeon.
Since performing the double-lung transplants Northwestern has been offering their guidance to other transplant centers around the world.
