Spraggs woman hoping donor appears for lung transplant
From left, Bob Yoney, his wife Tammy and their daughter, Morgan, of Spraggs, are waiting on a double lung transplant for Morgan, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 9 months old. Friends of the family are holding a fundraiser for her April 29 at the Perfect Round in Waynesburg, where the country music duo Branch and Dean will perform.
Morgan Yoney, 21, of Spraggs, recently bragged on Facebook that she’s going to be an aunt soon. Morgan, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis – a terminal disease – at 9 months old, is waiting on her second double lung transplant.
SPRAGGS – The wait is unlike anything 21-year-old Morgan Yoney has been through, and she’s been through organ transplants, breathing tubes and countless hospital stays. But now, she needs a double lung transplant for the second time in her life and she’s been waiting for a donor for a year-and-a-half.
“It’s frustrating waiting so long,” Morgan said. “The first time I didn’t have to wait as long and I’m sicker now. I’m just so worn out.”
At 9 months old, Morgan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which the lungs and digestive system are clogged with mucus, often resulting in liver and lung transplants.
Morgan, of Spraggs, lived a normal childhood and went to school in Central Greene School District, her parents, Tammy and Bob Yoney, said. But at 12, Morgan started developing more serious symptoms that included excessive coughing, trouble breathing and problems with her liver, kidneys and pancreas.
“I had a lot of hospital stays, and I couldn’t breathe very well,” Morgan said. “I had a lot of breathing treatments.”
In January 2010, when Morgan was 15, she had a double lung and liver transplant and things went back to normal for a while. She was homeschooled through ninth and 10th grades because she was too sick to go to school, but she was able to graduate with her class in 2012. She then attended Slippery Rock University from August 2012 to May 2013.
But just before she finished her first year of college, Morgan’s body rejected the lungs, and she was sicker than she’d ever been.
“I was so sick at that point that I just didn’t even care that I wasn’t going to finish school,” Morgan said.
Her lungs went into a “chronic rejection,” meaning she’d need another double lung transplant. She also had to get a tracheal tube put in because she can’t breathe without it.
Until this point, Morgan had been used to hospital trips and breathing tubes, but this time, when she got sick, “I was scared because I’ve never had to have the trache before.”
Tammy said Morgan’s lungs are functioning below 19 percent.
“Our lives went back to what it was like before the first transplant, but worse,” she said. “We spend a lot of time at home.”
Morgan’s sickness causes her to sleep much of the day and venturing outdoors, even for a doctor’s appointment can be exhausting for her.
“It’s frustrating because I sleep all the time but it feels like I never slept because I’m so tired all the time,” she said.
They also spend much of their day waiting for that phone call from UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh, telling them a donor has been found.
“The hardest part is knowing that there are not enough donors and not knowing when her call’s going to come,” Tammy said. “Doctors told us the wait varies and they keep saying it could be any day now. We only had to wait six months the first time.”
This month is especially difficult to wait through, since it’s National Donate Life Month and April 15 is National Donate Life Day, when awareness is typically higher than usual.
Tammy said the second double lung transplant will be a more difficult surgery, since there will be more scar tissue. She said Morgan has to be strong enough for it, and if her kidneys start to fail, she’ll be taken off the transplant waiting list because the procedure would be too risky.
“Recently we were faced with almost losing her, but we try not to go there,” Tammy said. “We try to stay positive.”
Morgan’s sister and brother-in-law, Megan and Matt Dickerson, who live in South Dakota, recently announced they’re expecting a baby in October.
“Morgan is excited to be an aunt,” Tammy said. “It’s given us something positive to focus on.”
Another silver lining Tammy mentioned was the support they’ve received from the community.
“Our community has been putting in a real effort to help us out,” Tammy said. “And we’re so thankful.”
Tammy said people across Greene County have helped out with shirt sales and spaghetti dinners to raise money for Morgan. She said that since Bob works for the state prison system, most of their medical costs are covered under his insurance. But they are hoping to install a generator in their house this year to keep Morgan’s ventilators running if they were to ever lose power. The generator will cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
Tammy also said that fundraising is required for transplant surgeries in some hospitals.
A family friend, Lori Hughes of Franklin Township, set up a fundraiser for April 29 at the Perfect Round in Franklin Township, where the county music duo Branch and Dean will perform.
Steve Branch, leader of the group, lost his son to cystic fibrosis in 2013, and he’s been performing for fundraisers for the disease ever since.
General admission for the event will be $10 and meet and greet passes will be $15, Hughes said. Tickets can be purchased at the AT&T store at 102 Greene Plaza, The Perfect Round at 1005 Rolling Meadows Road, and 5 Kidz Kandy on High Street in Waynesburg.
Hughes said she’s also trying to sell sponsorship tables for the event to cover the $900 travel and hotel cost of the band. To become a sponsor, contact Hughes at lmhugh05@gmail.com.
People also can donate to Morgan’s online fundraiser at www.gofundme.com/morgansarmy.