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In Episode 8, I’m sharing what happened in the early weeks after Ryder’s bilateral lung transplant, when what looked like steady healing suddenly turned into another fight for his new lungs. After discharge, we were learning our new baseline through clinic visits, spirometry, wound checks, medications, and routine surveillance bronchoscopies. On the outside, Ryder looked stable and was breathing well. But a routine 6-week bronchoscopy revealed acute cellular rejection along with signs concerning for antibody-mediated rejection.

In this episode, I walk through what that actually looked like for our family. The shock of hearing the biopsy results, the same-day hospital admission, the placement of a pheresis catheter, and the start of plasmapheresis treatment. I also share the details that matter for other pediatric lung transplant families: how rejection can happen even when a child seems fine, why surveillance matters so much, and what treatment can involve behind the scenes.

Ryder was hospitalized from August 1 through August 10, 2024, and underwent an intense rejection treatment course that included IV steroids, IVIG, plasmapheresis, and rituximab. I talk through those treatment days, the emotional weight of returning to inpatient life so soon after transplant, and what it means to realize that transplant is not the end of the fight, it is the beginning of protecting the gift you fought so hard to receive.

Most importantly, I share the hope in this chapter, too. After repeat bronchoscopy, Ryder’s rejection had resolved, his biopsy cleared, and his lung function began improving again. This episode is both our story and a practical look at what post-transplant rejection and recovery can really look like in pediatric lung transplant.

If you are a parent, caregiver, family member, or someone walking through this world, I hope this episode helps you feel more informed, less alone, and more prepared for the reality that healing after transplant can be both beautiful and fragile at the same time.

Between Breaths is a space for families walking through pediatric lung transplant. The fear, the strength, the grief, and the miracles.

This podcast shares personal experience and is not intended as medical advice.

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We’re in this together.