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Duke doctors come to aid of woman in need of third double-lung transplant

Duke University Hospital physicians stepped in and offered to help a young California transplant by performing a surgery so rare that it has only been completed 27 times in the U.S.

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By
Sarah Krueger
, Reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke University Hospital physicians stepped in and offered to help a young California transplant patient by performing a surgery so rare that it has been completed only 27 times in the U.S.

Ally Jenkins, 23, needs a third double-lung transplant to survive, and she was unable to find a medical doctor in California, which is where she was living at the time, to take that on.

Her medical journey began when she was 14 years old. That's when Jenkins suffered a stroke.

"That saying of, 'Life can change in a minute,' well, we were truly living it," said her mother, Vickee Jenkins.

That brought on Ally's first lung transplant. Shortly after, her body rejected the organs, and she had to undergo a second transplant.

Those lungs helped her live an almost normal life for seven years, until her body rejected the transplanted organs.

"I've always been really physically active, and I went to the gym one day and noticed that I could not breathe," she said.

Ally Jenkins

Jenkins receives oxygen with the help of a breathing tube. Her family said finding a hospital willing to perform a third double lung transplant was nearly impossible until Duke physicians stepped in.

"The first time I met one of the surgeons, he sat down and he looked at me, and he said, 'I'm all in. I want to do it,'" Jenkins said.

Dr. Matthew Hartwig is one of the physicians who will perform the transplant.

"She's done very well with her last transplant," he told WRAL News via Skype. "We would expect equal or better outcomes with this one."

Jenkins and her family said they understand the risks, but they said they will stop at nothing to give their daughter a chance at a long, healthy life.

"I get waves of fear, but I have such a good support system and such a strong faith," Ally said. "I lean on that, and I'm ready to fight."

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