Feb 1, 2017 3 min read

Morgan Yoney is home from the hospital and breathing on her own – no oxygen tank or tracheotomy tube.

“It’s a big relief to know that I don’t have to worry about my lungs being sick anymore,” Morgan said Wednesday, after being discharged from UPMC-Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh Tuesday night.

The 22-year-old Spraggs woman has been in the hospital since Dec. 3, when she was admitted to the intensive care unit because her kidneys were not functioning properly, and she desperately needed a lung transplant.

Two weeks later, a donor was found, and Morgan underwent her second double-lung transplant. She’s been recovering in the hospital and still has a long way to go, she said.

“I had to learn how to breathe again and take deep breaths,” she said.

Morgan said breathing on her own was difficult at first because she “wasn’t used to it.” She said she still has a “long road” of recovery ahead of her but she’s happy to be home.

“It’s easier to relax at home,” she said. “I feel like I’m getting stronger each day.”

At 9 months old, Morgan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which the lungs and digestive system are clogged with mucus, often resulting in the need for liver and lung transplants. She had both in 2010, when she was 15, but three years later, discovered her body was rejecting the lungs.

She finally got the lungs, but the two-year wait took a toll on her kidneys and now she’ll need a kidney transplant. Doctors are waiting a few months for her to recover from the lung transplant, Morgan’s mother Tammy said.

Tammy said Morgan’s doctors told her Morgan’s low kidney function made the lung transplant “one of the most complicated redo transplant surgeries they’ve ever done,” Tammy said.

“It wasn’t easy, but she’s tough,” Tammy said.

While waiting for a kidney, Morgan is doing dialysis four times a week, Tammy said. Tammy will be tested next week to see if she’s a match and can donate a kidney to her daughter.

“If I’m not a match, we will have to reach out to try to find one,” she said.

For now, the whole family is focused on Morgan regaining her strength.

“She’s not on oxygen and doing everything without any cords attached,” Tammy said. “She has a lot of recovery that she needs to do, and it’s going to take a while. She’s trying hard to gain weight and do what she can on her own.”

Like Morgan, Tammy is relieved to be home after spending the past 66 days in a Pittsburgh hotel to be closer to her daughter.

“This morning, Morgan said, ‘I slept so good,’ and she slept on the couch,” Tammy said. “Knowing that we’re all together again is just a huge relief.”