Morgan Yoney undergoes double-lung transplant
Photo courtesy of Tammy Yoney
Morgan Yoney, then 22, holds her 2-month-old niece, Jillian Morgan Dickerson, while at UPMC-Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh in this photo from 2016.
Morgan Yoney
Morgan Yoney received a Christmas miracle Thursday – lungs.
The 22-year Spraggs woman, who’s been waiting for a donor for more than two years, received her second double-lung transplant Thursday at UPMC-Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh.
“This is what we’ve been praying for – a Christmas miracle,” Morgan’s mother, Tammy Yoney, said Thursday morning.
Morgan got the phone call about 5 a.m. Wednesday morning that doctors had a pair of lungs from a Chicago donor that they were testing for her.
She called her mother to let her know.
“She was very calm on the phone,” Tammy said. “But of course, I jumped up and freaked out. Of course, we’re celebrating, but we also think about the donor family – a family that’s devastated and won’t want to celebrate Christmas.”
By 5 a.m. Thursday, the lungs were approved for transplantation and Morgan went into surgery at 7 a.m.
“She’s excited, but she’s very, very nervous,” Tammy told the Observer-Reporter while the surgery was ongoing.
“Hopefully, this will give her a long and happy life.”
The surgery took nearly 12 hours, Tammy said, and doctors updated her on the progress of the surgery every couple hours. She said Morgan would be on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a machine that takes over the work of the lungs, for a few hours Thursday night, allowing Morgan’s heart and lungs to rest.
“She’s doing well,” Tammy said. “Everything has gone as smoothly as they could’ve expected.”
In a post Tammy made to the Morgan’s Army Facebook page at 4 p.m. Thursday, she wrote that Morgan’s lead surgeon said the transplant went well and that the new lungs “are looking great.”
“At this point we were told we will take it hour by hour and continue to pray for a speedy recovery,” Tammy wrote in the post. “She is such a fighter and continues to show her strength.”
Tammy said their family and close friends camped out at the hospital, including her other daughter Megan Dickerson, of South Dakota, and Morgan’s two-month-old niece Jillian Morgan Dickerson.
“Morgan spent the whole night last night holding her niece,” Tammy said.
In a video posted to the Facebook page just before the surgery, Morgan announced that doctors had found a donor for her.
“So I not only ask that you pray for me but that you pray for the donor and the donor’s family as well,” she said in the video.
Since that post, thousands of people have been following Tammy’s updates on the surgery Thursday. Hundreds of them left loving and encouraging comments for Morgan.
The community has been supporting Morgan for years as she’s waited for the lungs, with signs and fundraisers, especially recently, since her condition has worsened.
As a baby, Morgan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which the lungs and digestive system are clogged with mucus, often resulting in the need for liver and lung transplants. She had both in 2010, when she was 15, but three years later, discovered her body was rejecting the lungs.
The two-year wait for lungs has taken a toll on Morgan’s kidneys, and two weeks ago, she was admitted to the intensive care unit at UPMC Presby because her kidneys were functioning under 30 percent. Doctors were considering removing her name from the waiting list for the lung transplant, but instead, Morgan got the call that they found lungs.
If the lung transplant is successful, Morgan will still need a kidney transplant and they are currently looking for a donor.
“I will be tested when she is well enough for me to leave,” Tammy said in a text message Thursday afternoon. “We have had 51 people sign up to be tested.”