In February 2005, Bonnie W. watched the New England Patriots defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. A huge Eagles fan, under normal circumstances, she would have been sorely disappointed. But Bonnie had just made it through a double lung and heart transplant surgery at Temple University Hospital. She was grateful to be watching the game at all.
Fast-forward to 2025. Thanks to her surgery, Bonnie’s still thriving. She got to cheer on the Eagles when they won the Super Bowl in 2018 and again in 2025.
Like the football team, Bonnie triumphed over tough odds. Double lung and heart transplants are rare and complex procedures. Nationwide, patients who live for a year after surgery have a median survival rate of about 12 years. In February 2025, the 72-year-old celebrated the 20-year anniversary of her transplant surgery.
Bonnie first came to Temple for treatment in 2001. Her heart and lungs had been severely damaged from sarcoidosis. The condition causes lumps or granules to form in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
“I was on oxygen 24/7. I’d be out of breath just from turning over in bed,” Bonnie recalls. “It restricted me from being able to do a lot of things.”
Bonnie was running out of treatment options. Her care team recommended a transplant of both of her lungs and her heart. Bonnie was placed on the transplant waiting list in April 2002. She spent nearly three years waiting for donor organs.
“I was getting worse as time went on,” she says. “I got a little discouraged. The waiting period was difficult.”
Finally, late one evening in early February 2005, Bonnie and her husband, Floyd, got the call they’d been waiting for. A donor pair of lungs and a heart were available, and she needed to come to the hospital right away.
Feeling a mix of joy and fear, they drove to Temple in silence, mentally preparing for the moment they’d thought about for so long.
After having blood tests and other prep work, Bonnie was wheeled in for surgery at around 6 a.m. Throughout the 13-hour surgery, Temple staff kept Floyd updated about how Bonnie was doing.
And the complex procedure was a success.
After the transplant, Bonnie remained at Temple for an extended recovery, spending 3 1/2 months under the close care of Temple Lung Center clinicians and her physician, Gerard J. Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP. Every transplant journey is different, and for Bonnie, that time in the hospital was crucial to helping her regain strength before continuing her recovery at home.
A key moment where she began to really feel like her old self again came later in November, when Dr. Criner told her it was safe to start driving again.
