Either Melissa Benoit died, or there was a one percent chance she lived. For her husband, Chris Benoit, and mother, there was no decision to be made: the family would take the one percent chance. The result was that this mom lived without lungs for six days.
Melissa has cystic fibrosis. One night after coming down with the flu, she had coughing fits so bad that she fractured her ribs. When antibiotics didn't work, her lungs became infected.
The mother began drowning in the blood and pus filling both of her lungs. She needed a double lung transplant, but a breathing ventilator wasn't equipped to keep her alive until the operation.
That's when doctors at Toronto General hospital came up with an idea that had never been carried out before: The doctors proposed removing both of Melissa's lungs, leaving her chest with a giant, empty cavity.
Melissa would have to rely on a machine called an extra-corporeal lung support device, which is usually used to support patients with lungs. In Melissa's case, the machine would be acting as her lungs by removing carbon dioxide from her blood cells.
Her family agreed to take the one percent chance, and it worked. Melissa survived six days without any lungs. Then doctors were able to complete the transplant. Remarkably, not only was the experimental procedure successful, Melissa says she has never breathed so clearly in her entire life.
"I've never had the experience of breathing before," she said. "I was always feeling like I was breathing through a straw."
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