ROCHESTER, N.Y. — More than 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant across the country, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
For people with end-stage organ failure, it's truly a matter of life and death.
One local woman was lucky enough to be given a new beginning.
“I was working full time for Christian Heritage Services and I was completely healthy, worked a full-time job, was working out,” said organ recipient Brianna Gianforte.
She received the gift of a second chance.
“The 20s are like everyone's years to live and I had to live it in difficulty like in and out of the hospital,” Gianforte said.
She developed a lung disease at the start of her early adult life.
“I just started getting a random cough and it was just a wicked cough,” Gianforte said. “My oxygen dropped super, super low and the doctors there were pretty frightened and were like, 'you need to go to emergency.'”
Unsure of her underlying conditions, Gianforte was referred to a specialist at the Cleveland Clinic.
“I was very fortunate to be involved with the care of Brianna,” said Dr. Marie Budev, medical director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program. “Brianna came to us actually very ill. She was in our ICU. She was declining. She was on a lot of oxygen. She was struggling.”
Finding the level of scarring in Gianforte's lungs to be unusual for her age, doctors had to prepare mentally and physically for the next phase and fast.
“Medical therapy had failed, that the only therapy that could help Brianna leave the hospital and go on to a normal life, although a different life, was lung transplantation,” Dr. Budev said.
After spending nearly a decade in and out of the hospital, Brianna knew this would be her only opportunity to get another chance at life.
“My hardest part was probably not living my normal life was what I was really scared of," Gianforte said. "But Dr. Budev was like, 'you're 30, you're healthy otherwise, then your lungs, like you'll be able to have your martini, you'll be able to get your nails done.' You know, I'm a 30-year-old woman. I want all that stuff, but I’ll never forget her. She definitely made my mind about a transplant at ease.”
After two weeks, she finally received a match and began preparing for the lung transplant, having not only her team but her family by her side.
“I try to stay as strong as I can,” Brianna’s sister Tiffany Devine said. “I didn't really want to show her emotion because I knew she was going through so much that I tried to stay strong for her. When you get the call, you have no idea. So just trying to stay as strong and as positive as possible — that's I think what kept all of us going.”
When Gianforte woke up from surgery she took in a fresh new breath of air.
“When I woke up, I was on four liters and then probably two or three days later, after I came off the vent, the nurse practitioner told me to take my oxygen off and I took it off and just held it in my hand,” Gianforte said. “And my O2 stayed at like 98%. And that was the point. I was like, 'I can breathe without oxygen.'”
When she moved back home she was eager as ever to live on her own.
“I had a wicked cough forever for the last 10 years and like, just taking a deep breath and not coughing and just getting back to a normal life,” Gianforte said. “It's hard, but I'm gonna get there.”
She still faces challenges on a day-to-day basis.
“With rejection and everything else going on with my body, I'm on like 30 different types of medication,” Gianforte said. “I have to take medication four times a day just to keep everything going and working.”
Despite her long struggle, Gianforte feels fortunate for how far she has come.
“I thank my donor every morning I wake up, you know, I wouldn't be here without, you know, my donor,” Gianforte said. “And it's hard to think about, you know, my family without me, you know?”
She's forever thankful for the donor who gave her the gift of a lifetime.
“I just thank God every day and I thank God for my donor,” Gianforte said. “And it's just you save people's lives.”