A NASA engineer has gone through the ultimate battle in the run up to Mother's Day. As reported by the New York Post, Jodi Graf was forced to be hooked up to an oxygen machine because of her lung cancer.
The 61-year-old NASA robotic software developer had been struggling with shortness of breath for a matter of decades. She was originally diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, which causes severe scarring of the lungs.
In a press release, she revealed that her health had taken a turn for the worse. "Basic activities required constant supplemental oxygen - sometimes as much as 10 liters. Just walking from my car to my office at NASA was a feat."
While she had just assumed things were because of her lung disease, a 2023 lung transplant evaluation revealed something much more daunting. She was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer after a mass was found in her lungs.
She started radiation therapy, which cut the NASA engineer's lung function even more - to a tragic 30%. I can't imagine having to experience something like that. The hospital told her that because she had been diagnosed with cancer, she couldn't have a lung transplant.
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But, she knew there might be another option. She got in contact with the DREAM program at Northwestern Medicine. The Chicago-based program is the only system in the country that offers double-lung transplants to cancer patients that have exhausted all their other options.
The DREAM program website explains the function of the double-lung transplants. "This surgery is designed to significantly reduce the risk of cancer returning and minimizes complications. The procedure's main goal is to ensure that cancer cells do not spread the newly transplanted donor lungs."
And Graf's case was a massive success - she's now cancer free! She says that she wants to go back to traveling and hiking with her husband and two children. "With my new lungs, I'm so glad that I'll be there for them a while longer. They're grown up, but they still need their mom." Isn't that the truth!
Congratulations to Jodi Graf, what great news!
