Double Lung Transplant Survivor in Need

My husband, Matthew McMillian, received a double lung transplant on October 6th, 2021, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. We are raising funds to pay for Cobra insurance for the next two months while staying in Chicago, IL., where we are required to reside until October 2022 (per hospital transplant policy). We are also raising funds to pay for our rental house and utilities in Chicago. Donations will also help us pay the upcoming hospital bills that have been accruing since July 2021, help us keep our home in Springfield, Mo., and provide us with basic everyday needs like groceries and medications.

Matthew came down with Covid at the beginning of July, then went to the hospital on the morning of July 8th. He spent the next six days trying to get better, but since he has diabetes, the infection continued to make breathing difficult. On the night of July 14th, Matthew was intubated, put on a ventilator, and taken to the ICU. Because the hospital he was at did not have enough beds or the proper equipment, he was transferred to St. Louis University Hospital on July 17th. The doctors there put Matthew on an ECMO machine to oxygenate his blood to give his lungs the chance to heal. With Covid, the usual healing time for lungs is 4-5 weeks. His lungs did not recover, and his only chance of survival was a double lung transplant. He was flown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in September 2021.

Since receiving the double lung transplant, Matthew was transferred to Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, a rehabilitation hospital, and discharged in March 2022. While there, he worked to rebuild his strength and relearn how to do many things we often take for granted, like the ability to stand and walk. Your donations made it possible for me to travel to Chicago to be with my husband and encourage him to keep fighting.

If you want to know more about Matthew's story, visit the Matthew McMillian Medical Updates page on Facebook. To see some of his recovery before and after the transplant, visit Samantha McMillia678 on TikTok (@sjmcmillian).