Double lung transplant gives teen hope after a lifetime of struggle
On Good Friday Samantha Moschetta received a double lung transplant.
And days later, for the first time in years, she was able to walk far enough from Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh to buy Italian ice and chai tea.
The 17-year-old Penn Hills girl returned home on a recent Friday as an example of transplant success.
But that success tops off a lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis that required daily determination to survive the potentially deadly disease. She had to undergo daily life-sustaining treatments from her parents, David and Betsy Moschetta, and significant expenditures of time and energy just to live a burdensome life.
Samantha's future remains uncertain due to the difficulties inherent with lung transplants, coupled with continuing problems that cystic fibrosis imposes on digestion.
But hers is a story of how persistence and determination -- and her absolute refusal to give up -- paid off.
Today Samantha literally breathes more freely than she has for most of her 17 years. It provides her incentive to resume a relatively normal teenage life, including possibly returning to high school and getting a driver's license.
Full Story:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08118/876605-114.stm
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