Bucks County woman documents lung transplant, recovery for donor awareness

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A Bucks County woman is breathing easier today, literally.

Marion Marin was the recipient of a lung transplant and chronicled her journey from start to finish.

As April is "National Donate Life Month," she's hoping her story is seen as a living testament to spark a conversation about organ donation.

Marion says at 57 she was healthy. She never smoked and ran three businesses. However, in 2022 she started feeling short of breath.

"Every month I was more and more about out of breath. I couldn't take a shower without gasping for air," Marion recalls.

She chalked it up to be out of shape, until she made an unexpected trip to the Emergency Room.

She was admitted right away and diagnosed with systemic scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and thickening of the skin and organs, which in Marion's case included her lungs and esophagus.

By late 2022, her condition had worsened.

"She was certainly younger than the average patient," says Kevin Carney, a nurse practitioner and transplant nurse in the Temple Lung Center. "But seeing the decline in her breathing numbers and hearing her symptoms made it obvious that a lung transplant would be needed in the future."

She documented her journey social media, from the hospital procedure to her discharge.

"You really did it!" says a nurse in one post, as Marion took her first steps down the hospital hall.

She also documented the months that followed recovering at home, to not just to inspire others going through something similar, but also to put a face to organ donations.

"Not only is it life changing, if there wasn't any donors I probably wouldn't even be here now because I needed a lung," she said.

Studies show that an average of 17 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant.

As for Marion, she no longer needs oxygen and says she has enough breath to sing in the car.