Utah Mom, 39, Begins Rare Double-Lung Transplant Process for Stage 4 Cancer
Updated
Updated · KUTV 2News · Aug 19
Utah Mom, 39, Begins Rare Double-Lung Transplant Process for Stage 4 Cancer
2 articles · Updated · KUTV 2News · Aug 19
Summary
Kelsey Flake, a 39-year-old Utah mother of five, is scheduled to begin the transplant process Tuesday at Northwestern Medicine after Stage 4 lung cancer left her with 41% lung capacity and full-time oxygen use.
Her family said the cancer returned in both lungs in January after chemotherapy, surgery and immunotherapy, and continued to progress despite another aggressive round of treatment.
Northwestern's DREAM program offers double-lung transplants to highly selected patients whose advanced cancer is confined to the lungs and no longer responds to standard care; surgeons are expected to remove at least one lung first before listing her for donor lungs.
A July 8 JAMA study of 98 such patients found 100% estimated one-year survival among 17 transplant recipients versus 40.8% for medically managed patients, though researchers said longer-term outcomes still need study.
The treatment will keep Flake and her husband in Chicago for months while their five children initially remain in Utah, prompting fundraising for housing, travel, child care and transplant-related costs.