Thanks to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, 35 year-old Shannon O’Donnell of Toms River looks forward to summer weekends at Island Beach State Park with her family, friends and her dog. Born with cystic fibrosis (CF), a progressive genetic disorder that damages the lungs, she is also a cancer survivor and a double-lung transplant recipient, who celebrated her milestone 10-year transplant anniversary last year.
Despite health challenges, she swam for her high school team and graduated college with a teaching degree. Shortly afterwards, her health declined rapidly.
She was referred to RWJBarnabas Health Advanced Lung Disease and Transplant Program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in 2012, where she received a life-saving double lung transplant. Newark Beth Israel is New Jersey’s only advanced lung disease and transplant program, and one of the nation’s top 10 heart transplant centers, which has performed more than 1,100 heart transplants.
Beyond the obvious reasons, Shannon says she likes the intimate atmosphere at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, which allowed her to develop close relationships with her caregivers, who after over 10 years of close follow-up, feel more like family.
“There are advantages to being a small program,” says Dr. Joshua Lee, Director of the lung transplant program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. “Our physicians are more closely aligned and able to provide the same level of expertise and the latest advanced technology.”
After surgery, Shannon remembers quickly being able to breathe on her own. She was discharged just eight days after her transplant “I held the record at the time,” she says.
