Saturday June 13, 2009, 3:47 pm
"Just a few years ago Gauger was the picture of health until two battles with leukemia put her in a wheelchair.

"It's like giving up your whole life," Gauger said.

Gauger had a bone marrow transplant. Instead of curing her cancer the new cells made things worse.

"It attacked my lungs, over 90 percent of them, and left me in need of a lung transplant." Gauger said.

Getting a transplant wasn’t easy.

"I was not eligible to receive a transplant because I was considered too underweight," Gauger said.

Gauger was also told by some clinics she had to be cancer free for five years to be considered. Even after getting on the transplant list there are no guarantees."

Read more at site..

Sunday June 14, 2009, 4:46 pm
A double whammy for this woman. How unfair, that we get to decide she needs to be cancer free for years before getting the surgery. Who the hell are we? Do the surgery so she can live and be with her family. No matter how long.

Sunday June 14, 2009, 10:07 pm
I can completely empathize with her, (my alveoli - the air sacs that exchange the oxygen and carbon dioxide), are dying. I never smoked a day in my life. When every breath is a struggle, movement is a choice you contemplate. Forget physical activity. When you are told you are not a candidate for a transplant you wonder, will you see your children graduate, will you be able to walk your daughter down the aisle, will you be here this Christmas...weighs heavily... The painful thoughts that if you were a candidate, for you to live means someone else must die. I wish her the best...I know what it means...

Monday June 15, 2009, 6:58 am
too underweight I never heard of that before and cancer free that just isent right.

Monday June 15, 2009, 8:20 am
Transplants are very intricate to say the least..and they do not like to risk them when someone is not strong enough..It is a very hard and sad place this woman is in..

I hope they can do something to help her..

Thank you all for your comments on this..

Tuesday June 16, 2009, 9:12 pm
Lungs are particularly difficult as they are the only transplant where the organ is exposed to the environment...hence the low longer(er) survival rates. My pulmonologist quoted 70% for year one, 50% for year two...and that is for a healthy individual. She is one of the top pulmonary specialists in the country.