(Oranjestad)—Who could imagine that a random encounter thousands of miles away from home could save your life? 37-year-old Luanne from Massachusetts certainly can. What was supposed to be a normal vacation with friends to Aruba turned into a life-saving trip that gave Luanne another chance of life and gave her two new life-long friends.
Luanne’s incredible story begins in 2024. Luanne, a St. Lucia native, had been dealing with an autoimmune disorder that had been destroying her lungs for years. She required oxygen 24/7 and couldn’t laugh or walk to her neighbor’s house without running out of breath. “She used to drive to our home,” her friend Andrea told Aruba Today.
Despite what she was going through, she never let her condition get her down. She’s a world traveler, having been to several countries and embarked on great adventures throughout the years. She is also—as her friends would call her—an old soul. Having her around is always a delight, and she never fails to carry a smile wherever she went.
In January of 2024, her friends Andrea and Jeff were celebrating their 10th year of marriage on the island of Aruba. As she told us, they had been coming here for a long time, and even got married on the island, so what better way to celebrate the big milestone? They invited all of their friends and family for the celebration, including Luanne.
The week before leaving for Aruba, Luanne got the unfortunate news from her doctors in Boston that was not eligible for a double lung transplant and that there was nothing left they could do for her. At the time, they told her she had about a month left to live.
On their first day in Aruba, the gang was having dinner at the restaurant located at their timeshare. Luanne, who at the time was still on oxygen and who needed a wheelchair to get around, was left alone at the dinner table while the others briefly went to see the sunset. They were gone for 15 minutes, but when they got back, couldn’t find Luanne sitting at their table. Their friend was sitting at another table, talking to her new friend from New York, Herman and Deb.
Initially they thought nothing of it; Luanne has always been a social butterfly and people were always drawn by her energy. Little did they all knew, this chance meeting would change Luanne’s life for good.
As Herman would tell us, when he first say Luanne he was immediately noticed her oxygen machine and couldn’t help but introduce himself to her. It turns out that Herman’s wife, Deb, underwent a double lung transplant in November 2022. Before that, she carried around an oxygen machine, just like Luanne.
Herman felt compassion for Luanne, especially since she was so young (she was turning 35 at that time). So he struck up a conversation with her and invited her over to his and Deb’s table. There they talked about her condition and Deb shared her own experience with the surgery.
Upon hearing that Luanne had been told that she could not get the procedure, Deb quickly offered to set her up with her doctor in New York. Miraculously, he answered her call and gladly said he would help Luanne.
That one call would change everything for Luanne. And what came after was a group effort to get Luanne her once-in-a-lifetime chance at life. “It takes a village,” Andrea remarked.
Several days after that hopeful call, more conversations were had and by the end of that week, Luanne was on the phone with the surgeon in New York! Over the next couple of months, she would drive back and forth between Boston to New York to get extensive testing done.
On June 3rd, Luanne was officially on the transplant list. Luanne told us that when she got her letter, she initially didn’t understand what it meant. It took her calling Herman, who got her on a call with UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing), to understand that she has been granted a unique opportunity—something she thought was out of reach just a few months ago.
Herman and Deb were more than just a connection to a great doctor, they became her guide throughout the entire process, taking her in their care and helping her with everything she needed. They truly became her guardian angels.
On Monday, June 10th, Luanne, Jeff and Andrea were going over their plans for Wednesday night. As they recalled, they were heading to Gillette Stadium for Tom Brady’s retirement party. Immediately after Luanne purchased her ticket that same night, Jeff jokingly said, “What if you get the call from NY saying they have lungs for you?” This must have been magic words, because not even 10 minutes later, Luanne got her life-changing phone that there were lungs waiting for her.
Everyone was in a frenzy after that call. They needed to move fast; Luanne was told that she had about 4 hours to get to New York for the procedure. “We got lungs!” they all screamed while rushing to pack everything Luanne needed for New York.
The car ride was grueling, as Jeff would express. Luanne was on the phone with her friends and family the entire time, all of whom were extremely excited and nervous, but wishing her all the best. Jeff, meanwhile, drove as fast as he could all the way to New York. They even encountered a police officer, who upon hearing the urgency of the situation, kindly offered to escort them to NY. Jeff kindly declined his generous offer.
Jeff and Luanne arrived at the hospital around 12:30 a.m. Luanne was taken into surgery right around 5:30 that morning, and the operation started just after 7:00. Jeff stayed at the hospital so that he could report back to everyone anxiously awaiting to hear how things were progressing. Her surgery was completed around 3:00 that afternoon, and Jeff was allowed in to see her about an hour later. She was unconscious but looked good, all things considered. She stayed about a week in the hospital before moving into her new apartment in NY.
It’s been two years since her life-saving procedure, and Luanne is doing amazing. She no longer needs oxygen, is breathing completely on her own and can walk long distances without becoming winded or tired. Her friends are also delighted to finally discover her cute laugh. This month, she and the gang (including Herman and Deb) came back to Aruba, where they told us their story right in the exact restaurant where it all began.
Imagine a new lease on life after a chance meeting on a tropical island. There is only one word that they keep using to describe this miraculous story: Serendipitous—Occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
