Woman defies the odds and reaches 10-year ‘lungaversary’

Fawn Kruger is a typical 35-year-old woman living in Magaliesig. She is married, has four pets, owns her own business and socialises with her friends.

What makes Fawn different is that 10 years ago both her lungs were removed and replaced with a stranger’s lungs in an effort to save her life.

Fawn was born with Cystic Fibrosis. This degenerative illness is a lifelong burden that requires non-stop invasive treatment. The disease affects various organs, but the most life threatening is the lungs.

“It’s like having a constant bronchitis infection every day of your life – it’s exhausting and painful,” Fawn said.

According to the American National Library of Medicine, the F508del Cystic Fibrosis mutation affects 86.4% and the G542X affects 4.6% of all mutations. Most patients have two F508del genes, but Fawn has one of the F508del and one G542X gene which is a far more severe mutation to treat.

Fawn was diagnosed when she was a year old. Her daily treatments were a combination of digestive enzymes with every meal and nebulising twice a day with chest physio. By the time she was 13, every three months she was spending two weeks in the hospital having intravenous antibiotics. Fawn spent over 700 days in the hospital prior to her transplant.

“I couldn’t plan anything because I never knew how I would be feeling. I missed so many special occasions because I was either in hospital or just not well.”

Eventually, her lungs deteriorated to a point where she could no longer breathe without being connected to an oxygen machine 24 hours a day.

“I’d take the oxygen tubing off to wash my face and my lips would immediately start going blue and I felt lightheaded.”

She had an oxygen tube in her nose, a feeding tube surgically inserted into her stomach, an insulin machine attached to her, and a port-a-cath in her neck to allow for vein access for medication. At this point, she was listed for a double lung transplant.

In March 2013, Fawn was told they had found a match for her, and she could finally have the surgery to replace her lungs. The eight-hour procedure left her in the hospital for three months recovering from a number of complications. It took Fawn about a year to build up the mental and physical strength she had lost over the years, but from there it was onwards and upwards as she enjoyed doing things, she could never do with her ‘original’ lungs.

“I’ve had so many firsts over the last 10 years and I’m so grateful to my donor for giving me a chance to truly experience life for the first time.”

Fawn is one of only 22 patients in South Africa who have survived a lung transplant for 10 or more years.

Every year Fawn celebrates her ‘lungaversary’ and this year is no different. She plans to invite all her friends, family, and some of her medical team to join her as she commemorates the occasion.

Fawn co-founded Tell as a way to increase the number of transplants that take place in SA.

“One of the hardest parts of this disease is losing friends who didn’t get a transplant in time.”

She has asked all her guests to make a donation to Tell in lieu of gifts at her 10-year lungaversary party. Her goal is to raise R10 000 to assist Tell in their continued efforts to educate both the public and medical professionals about organ donation, as well as providing patients with support. If you would like to make a donation, then please use the following Backabuddy link: www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/fawns-10-year-lungaversary