Live To Breathe Another Day

Five Years Ago, Lisa Got Another Chance At Life And Love With A Lung Transplant

- Fleur Guthrie

At the bottom of Lisa Borkus’ wardrobe sits a box containing something she’s held close to her heart for 45 years – her lungs! Her old ones anyway.

Five years ago, the cystic fibrosis (CF) sufferer’s life was saved by a double lung transplant and the generosity of a donor.

When the surgeon asked her, “Should we bin these lungs or do you want to keep them?’ Lisa didn’t hesitate.

“I wanted to keep them! They’ve been a part of me my whole life,” tells the Christchurch mother-of-two.

“One of my girls even asked their teacher if she could bring in ‘mum’s lungs’ for show and tell at school. So we took them in and some kids were fascinated, yet horrified.”

Having CF means Lisa’s body produces abnormally thick mucus that clogs her lungs, pancreas and other organs, leaving her open to severe respiratory and digestive issues.

Before the transplant, Lisa was in a wheelchair, weighing only 45kg and living on oxygen because her lung function was below 20%.

“My body was shutting down and I knew I didn’t have much longer,” Lisa (50) tells the Weekly.

“All I could think about were my daughters, Analise (20) and

Liana (14), and my goal to be here as long as possible for them.”

After catching the flu and rapidly deteriorating, Lisa was bumped up onto the ‘active’ list for a transplant, with doctors saying she wouldn’t survive the year without one.

Amazingly, only a week later, the call came saying viable donor lungs – the same size and blood type as Lisa’s – were available and she and her husband Tony were to get on an emergency flight to Auckland.