The last time Brittany Caro took a trip with college friends to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, she felt tired and defeated.
While her friends were pushing their babies in strollers, Caro’s husband was pushing her – and her oxygen machine – in a wheelchair.
That was before the 33-year-old WellSpan Philhaven psychologist had a double lung transplant that gave her a new life, a new energy and a new vitality.
This summer, Caro will return to the Outer Banks for another trip with her friends. This time, she can’t wait to be active, walking, exploring and breathing in the fresh ocean air thanks to her new lungs, which she has nicknamed Lucy and Ethel.
“My transplant gave me my life back,” she said. “For three years, I felt older. I didn’t feel like a twentysomething. I couldn’t travel anymore after a time. Everything became difficult. Honestly, if I hadn’t gotten my lungs, I don’t know if I would still be here.”
National Donate Life Month
April is National Donate Life Month, a time to focus on the importance of organ donation. All WellSpan hospitals have raised a Donate Life flag this month and we are encouraging our patients and neighbors to consider the gift of organ donation.
More than 100,000 people across the country are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, and more than 5,000 of them live in our region. Anyone can be a potential donor, with the chance to help up to 75 people by donating organs, tissues or corneas.
Caro’s journey to her lung transplant began just before she arrived at WellSpan Philhaven to do her internship. She was finishing up her doctorate studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and she found herself getting winded walking around the hilly campus.
It was not a familiar feeling for Caro, who grew up playing tennis and basketball in school, exercising and being very active. She went to see a physician and after a series of tests she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder called mixed connective tissue disease, which had caused significant scarring in her lungs.
Her doctors tried treating her with immunotherapy and other approaches, but nothing was slowing down the progression of her disease. In 2017, Caro was flying back to Pennsylvania with her husband from a trip to Arizona when her low oxygen levels caused her to have two seizures on the flight, leading the plane to make an emergency landing.
“After that, I was on oxygen 24/7,” she said.
Waiting and then receiving
In 2019, her doctors referred her to Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center, which evaluated her and placed her on a transplant list. Just three months later, Caro got a call about a possible transplant, but the lungs were not suitable. A second call in September led to a successful transplant.
After a three-week hospital stay followed by physical and occupational therapy, she returned to work at WellSpan Philhaven in February 2020. During her recovery, she had an interesting learning experience.
“Recovery was difficult for me,” she said. “It was a mental struggle, not a physical thing. I never had experienced anxiety before, so it was a real surprise. It definitely helped me to be more empathic with my clients who deal with this all the time.”
Welcome Lucy and Ethel
Caro doesn’t know any details about her lungs other than they came from some distance away and had to be flown to Hopkins. After her transplant, she wrote a letter to the donor’s family.
“Because of your loved one and family’s selflessness, I have a new lease on life,” she wrote . “I have a chance to live the life I have always dreamt of. Your sacrifice gave me back my life. With each breath I take, I think of you and your sacrifice. I love old shows, and after surgery, nurses told me to name my new lungs, so I named them Lucy and Ethel. Did your loved one know of I Love Lucy? Lucy and Ethel are doing well. We are still getting to know one another but are becoming more friendly with each day. … Thank you so much for gifting me these lungs.”
She did not hear back from the family but plans to write them another letter, updating them about her progress as she enjoys walking, doing dance workouts, cooking and traveling again.
“I definitely encourage people to sign up to be organ donors,” she said. “There are people whose lives depend on it. I’m so honored to have received a transplant. And so hopeful. This is my new life!”
Interested in finding out more about registering to be an organ donor? Go here