Double-lung transplant gives Pittsburgh-area woman new lease on life

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-area woman has a new lease on life after a successful double-lung transplant that she was waiting on for years.

After spending more than two years on the transplant list and 66 days in a hospital following her surgery in December, Morgan Yoney is thanking her supporters and looking ahead.

RELATED: Pittsburgh-area woman out of surgery after second double-lung transplant

“I needed a change. New lungs. New life. New hair,” Yoney told WPXI’s Lisa Sylvester while laughing.

Sylvester spoke with Yoney Thursday while she got a haircut and a new look. The 22-year-old spoke about the ups and downs of her journey to find a match that would save her life.

“I was giving up the fact that I was going to get a transplant. I had to accept it wasn’t going to happen. I was dealing with that in my own way,” she said.

Dan Burda, who was once a stranger and now a close family friend, was one of many who kept her going.

“Something society needs to do is take an interest in people we don’t know and believe in them and encourage them to survive this world,” Burda said.

Yoney told Sylvester about what she’s most looking forward to doing now.

“To do things with my friend and go to the mall. I’ll be able to drive again and go to the beach,” She said.

“She was really existing. She wasn’t really living. Now, she has a chance to live and be a normal, healthy 22-year-old,” Tammy Yoney, Morgan Yoney’s mother, said.

Despite the transplant, Yoney has not cleared all of her health obstacles. Doctors are making sure her body doesn’t reject her new lungs, and she will eventually need a kidney transplant.

Cox Media Group