Northwestern Medicine performs groundbreaking double-lung transplant on woman battling cancer

CHICAGO - Surgeons at Northwestern Medicine successfully completed a double-lung transplant on a Minnesota woman who was battling cancer.

In 2017, at just 34 years old, Amanda "Mandy" Wilk initially suspected she had food poisoning. However, her lingering symptoms prompted further investigation, ultimately leading to her diagnosis of stage 4 colorectal cancer.

By that time, the cancer had already metastasized to her liver, and doctors gave her an estimated two years to live.

Wilk underwent a series of aggressive treatments, including a partial colon resection, chemotherapy, liver ablations and radiation beads targeted at her liver. In 2020, she received a liver transplant from her younger brother, Adam. Just six months later, her cancer returned, this time affecting her lungs.

Because of this, Wilk looked to the Double Lung Replacement and Multidisciplinary Care (DREAM) Program at Northwestern.

"I traveled to almost every major health system across the country, and they all told me there was nothing more they could do," said Wilk. "I believe in forward-thinking and was not going to take ‘no’ for answer, so when I inquired about the DREAM program at Northwestern Medicine, I was ecstatic that they were ready and eager to help me live."

On June 3, she received new lungs and was discharged from Northwestern Memorial Hospital one week later on her 42nd birthday.

"Throughout my eight-year journey of battling cancer, the one thing I’ve always wanted to do was ‘ring the bell,’ signaling my completion of cancer treatment," said Wilk. "Many doctors told me I’d never be able to ring it, so when my lung transplant social worker made it happen on my birthday, there was no greater feeling. I was finally able to celebrate being cancer-free."

Northwestern Medicine said colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the United States.  Additionally, the number of people diagnosed under the age of 50 has increased.

"This is a first-of-its-kind surgery at Northwestern Medicine where a patient with stage 4 colorectal cancer has successfully received a double-lung transplant," said Ankit Bharat, MD, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute. "Our surgical team meticulously removed Mandy’s cancer-ridden lungs without allowing any cancerous cells to spill into her bloodstream, and then we transplanted new lungs."

Currently, Wilk has no signs of cancer in her body and does not require any further cancer therapy.