Mother Gave Part of Lung ‘to Give My Kid Chance to Live’

The 45-year-old Salt Lake City woman who donated a third of her lungs to her seriously ill daughter said she made the decision to become the world’s first living lung transplant donor because “I wanted to give my kid a chance to live.”

Versell Johnson, a teacher of behaviorally handicapped youths in the Salt Lake City school system, and her daughter, 12-year-old Mazie Bond, were recovering Wednesday from the Oct. 25 operation that is expected to allow the daughter to survive. Stanford cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Vaughn A. Starnes completely replaced one of Mazie’s two damaged lungs with the upper right lobe of the mother’s right lung.

Both patients on Wednesday were reported in good condition, taking short walks in the hospital and visiting each other in the separate units where they were recovering. Both were listed in good condition and were expected to be released within a few weeks.

Starnes said that Mazie, a seventh-grader, at Bryant Junior High School in Salt Lake City, suffered from a side effect of prematurity--lung damage caused by the respirator that sustained her in early life. The condition is called bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Symptoms include scarring and high blood pressure of the lungs.

Before her operation, Mazie was receiving supplementary oxygen at home and was not expected to survive more than about 18 months, said Starnes. Medication, sometimes effective in such cases, had little effect. and the child’s heart was at high risk of becoming severely damaged without surgery.

“Mazie has never been able to play, skateboard or any of that,” said Johnson. “So she plays Bach” on the piano and dreams of growing up to become a clinical psychologist.

Starnes said both mother and daughter are expected to make a full recovery. Mazie “may never be a sprinter, but she should be able to go to school, to date, to lead a normal life,” the surgeon Starnes said.

The family originally requested anonymity, but Johnson said she was willing to share her story now that the operation is behind them.