PITTSBURGH — Members of a Boston-area family are in mourning the loss of their daughter after she finally received a lung transplant.
Caitlin O’Hara was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a disease that primarily affects the lungs, at the age of 2. At age 33, she needed a lung transplant. She had been on the transplant list since April 2014.
Throughout her journey, O’Hara was vocal about her battle with cystic fibrosis with the help of hoping others diagnosed with the disease.
“As a whole, though, I can’t help but feel that the (Cystic Fibrosis) community avoids talking about transplant because it’s hard to do it without feeling like somehow, someone failed the patient -- the research failed, all the fundraising efforts failed, or the patient failed. But nothing failed. CF is a complicated disease," she wrote in a blog post. "Maybe others out there will benefit from hearing this; maybe it will affect, in some small way, how we talk about transplant.”
[ She was on life support last week ]
, as the search for a donor continued and time started running out. On Sunday, a donor with lungs the perfect size was found, and
[ Caitlin had the double lung transplant ]
.
Sadly, her health declined very rapidly Tuesday and she passed away. She was being treated at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh because Boston doctors said her condition was too risky for them to treat.
Her parents are outspoken critics of the transplant program and in their blog post wrote, "If she had received these perfect lungs earlier, all would be different. She should never have ended up on life support with the score she had."
In memory of O'Hara, family members have asked people to consider becoming organ donors.
“As a whole though, I can’t help but feel that the (Cystic Fibrosis) community avoids talking about transplant because it’s hard to do it without feeling like somehow, someone failed the patient -- the research failed, all the fundraising efforts failed, or the patient failed. But nothing failed. CF is a complicated disease," she wrote. “Maybe others out there will benefit from hearing this; maybe it will affect, in some small way, how we talk about transplant.”