US coronavirus patient gets double-lung transplant

Arthur Sanchez's memories of his various hospital stays are hazy but he hasn't forgotten how it felt when COVID-19 took away his ability to breathe.

Seven months after he was first hospitalized with the virus in his hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the 52-year-old utility worker has a brand new set of lungs. Doctors at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, where the transplant took place, are expected to release Sanchez on Saturday. He is the first of two double lung transplants the hospital has performed on coronavirus patients since the pandemic began.

When COVID-19 cases were first reported in the U.S., Sanchez thought it would be like the flu and disappear after a few months. Even if he did get it, he felt healthy enough to fight it.

Unfortunately, his mother, sister and brother-in-law all contracted it. Later, his brother-in-law died. In April, Sanchez took over caring for their mother after he tested negative, but early Easter morning, he woke up with a fever and shortness of breath.

Sanchez rushed to the hospital. His condition improved to the point where he was discharged. He went to his sister's home rather than back to his wife as a precaution. The next day, a nurse called to check on him and Sanchez said he didn't feel right. The nurse picked him up and took him back to the hospital. Doctors decided he needed a ventilator.

That was the start of nearly 150 days spent in hospitals starting in Las Cruces and then Albuquerque. He was on a ventilator for 116 days and on oxygen for three months.

A transplant was the “last resort measure," said Dr. Rajat Walia, a pulmonologist and medical director of the lung transplant program at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Norton Thoracic Institute.

Since no medical facility in New Mexico could perform the transplant, Sanchez would have to go to St. Joseph's in Phoenix.

The transplant took place on Aug. 16 after which Sanchez spent two weeks recovering before going to a rehabilitation unit.

His life is irrevocably changed. Besides the possibility of long-term effects from the virus, he will be on anti-rejection medications for life.

Lungs accounted for just 7% of the nearly 40,000 U.S. organ transplants in 2019. They are typically hard to find and patients often wait weeks on the transplant list. The United Network for Organ Sharing shows there have been more than 2,200 lung transplants so far this year. The data didn't indicate how many of those recipients were also battling COVID-19.

Nationwide, there have been reports of a handful of coronavirus-related lung transplants.

Sanchez hopes people skeptical of the restrictions caused by COVID-19 will learn from his experience. "You just never know how this virus is going to affect you. I'm a prime reason to not take this thing too lightly," Sancheaz said.

Dr. Walia said he's received many referrals for similar cases. He thinks there is growing potential for more COVID-19 patients to need a lung transplant.

Sanchez acknowledged none of his progress would be possible without donors. He will be thinking of his donor's family when he returns home to New Mexico and savors red and green chile with his own loved ones, he said.

(Image credit: pixabay)