Press

A woman who had been turned down over and over again for a lung transplant finally got one right here in Pittsburgh.

Mallory Smith is getting ready to celebrate her 25th birthday, which is just three days away. That might not sound extraordinary, but it is. Smith believes doctors here in Pittsburgh saved her life.

Mallory Smith, 24, suffers from cystic fibrosis and was in desperate need of a double lung transplant. She is from Los Angeles, but UCLA and Stanford turned her down.

More than 2,000 miles away at UPMC, Smith said doctors saved her life.

Mallory Smith rolls her IV medication pole as she walks through the hallway at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital to get some exercise following major surgery.

“I’m taking like six IV medications throughout the day. So they all come through on these different pumps,” Smith said.

The lunges keep coming for Lunges4Lungs, even as Mallory Smith recovers from the double lung transplant she has received to help extend her life.

Friends of Smith started the transplant fundraising campaign, which involves people making donations for each of the leg-muscle exercises known as lunges that they perform. Although doctors have performed her transplant, the lunges for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation‘s new transplant initiative continue.

The stress of waiting for a lung transplant sparked a 24-year-old patient’s desire to raise awareness for a complicated disease.

Mallory Smith, who has cystic fibrosis and is on the waiting list for a pair of lungs, started the ‘Lunges4Lungs’ campaign along with her friends.