Helen "Honey" Gorny of Delaware was diagnosed with sarcoidosis in 2011, a disease that causes clusters of immune cells to form in the body, often in the lungs and lymph nodes. She continued working and maintaining much of her routine, but as her health deteriorated, she was placed on the transplant list in 2021. Her condition worsened in 2023, when she developed acute kidney distress. After 20 months and a week at the hospital, a match for her size, she received lungs from a 12-year-old boy. The transplant was uncommon as pediatric lungs are typically prioritized for children and only offered to adults under specific circumstances. Since the surgery, Gornry has returned to many activities she feared might lose, including exercise, traveling and spending time with her family.