When Kevin C. tossed the first pitch over home plate at a Philadelphia Phillies game in the fall of 2025, it was a moment worth celebrating. At 35, breathing on his own, without the help of oxygen therapy or machines, was a lifelong dream.
Just six months earlier, Kevin was on life support with failing lungs. The remarkable turnaround that allowed him to be on the baseball diamond that day was made possible by Kevin’s fighting spirit and a double lung transplant surgery at Temple Health.
Born fighting for air
“Kevin just has this incredible strength about him,” his mother, Jennifer, says.
Her son was born prematurely with underdeveloped lungs. One of his lungs filled with air and was compressing his heart. Kevin faced many health challenges as a baby, underwent lung surgery, and at one point had to go on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to support his heart and lungs. He didn’t leave the hospital until he was 10 months old. Even then, he needed a ventilator at home to breathe.
When he was 7 years old, Kevin no longer needed a ventilator, but he still relied on supplemental oxygen therapy. Anytime he went somewhere, Kevin brought his oxygen supply.
“I had to make sure I had enough oxygen for any of the activities I would do,” Kevin says.
In 2011, Kevin’s family transitioned his care from a pediatric pulmonologist to Gerard J. Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP, Director of the Temple Lung Center. Kevin graduated from high school, attended trade school, and had a job. For several years, his health was stable.
Then, in the summer of 2024, Kevin began having more difficulty breathing. He needed more oxygen support. Despite his and his family’s best efforts to manage Kevin’s health, he had to be hospitalized about once a month with respiratory failure. That’s when Dr. Criner shared with the family that a double lung transplant was the only option that would improve Kevin’s health.
Resilience and hope
And as it turned out, Kevin was an ideal candidate for a lung transplant. After an extensive evaluation, Kevin made the organ transplant list in early 2025. But he became very sick and had to go on ECMO again to stabilize his critical condition and keep him alive while he waited for a transplant. Finally, Kevin’s nurse called to say that a pair of donor lungs were available. In March, world-renowned surgeon Yoshiya Toyoda, MD, PhD performed Kevin’s double lung transplant. The surgery went well, and Kevin had a smooth recovery. For the first time in his life, Kevin breathed freely, no longer tethered to oxygen therapy.
“My dream was that I didn’t want to have [supplemental] oxygen all my life,” Kevin says
