Chloe Hong

Hi! My name is Chloe and I am a bone marrow and double lung transplant recipient. I found out at first that I needed a bone marrow transplant when I developed Acute Myeloid Leukemia; merely at the age of 1. I also received a lot of blood products as well during the time of my treatment. Unfortunately, due to something called Graft-versus-hosts-disease (GVHD) and Bronchiolitis Obliterans, my lungs slowly started failing. When I reached 14, my lung disease had progressed enough where my doctors decided a double lung transplant would be the best option moving forward. At first, I was extremely hesitant about the process since I knew there were a lot of risks associated. To get the whole process started, I went through a full evaluation which included a variety of tests like bloodwork, scans, various therapy evaluations, and meeting different people on the transplant team. After my evaluation was completed it took about 3 months to be listed. However, only after waiting for 3 weeks on the transplant list, my team came into my room in the morning and said, "We have lungs!!!" In that moment, I was just in shock. I almost think I was in denial at the time that it was actually going to happen until they actually starting prepping me. My emotions were on a rollercoaster, but I knew that there was a new life waiting for me. So off I went into the operating room.

Recovery was one of the hardest things I went through, and it was frustrating at times as you could imagine. It felt like somedays I wasn't making any progress, but little did I know, bit by bit, I was growing stronger and stronger. I had now entered the post transplant life. Despite what many people assume, just because you received a transplant does not mean you are fully normal now. There are a wide range of precautions, meds, and other things like hospital visits to follow. It was still amazing at how many things I discovered I could do now that I had healthy lungs.

Unfortunately, I developed chronic rejection around a year and a half post transplant which is inevitable in all transplants, with lungs being the highest risk. As of now, I decided not to go through the evaluation for a re-transplant yet due to my condition being stable even while being in end stage lung failure again. I realized even more now that you should never take anything for granted, even air.

I think I wouldn't have been able to do it all without the amazing support from my family, friends, and social media supporters. There is an amazing group I am involved in called the Golden Girls, and it is a teen girls cancer fighters/survivors group. They've helped me navigate so much. I share my story on platforms like TikTok and Instagram to raise awareness about my transplant journey post cancer survival, and how it might not be the "picture perfect" life. I hope that by sharing, other people will have better knowledge of transplants or if they are going though one, that they are not alone. I can't express of amount of gratitude I have for my donors for giving me the gift of life!