CRESCENT SPRINGS, Ky. — She’s lived 20 years with and managing pulmonary fibrosis, but now Andrea Hall has two new lungs.
Hall was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis as a 17-year-old Dixie Heights senior. For 22 years, Hall has lived with the disease until it made her undergo a double lung transplant on Nov. 17 at 38 years old.
According to the Mayo Clinic, pulmonary fibrosis is the scarring and thickening of the tissue around and between the air sacs in the lungs. These changes make it harder for oxygen to pass into the bloodstream.
Hall’s mom, Rhoda Gross, told LINK nky that when her daughter was diagnosed, she was the youngest in Northern Kentucky at the time. According to the American Lung Association, most people develop pulmonary fibrosis symptoms between 50 and 70 years old.
She said Hall was losing 5 pounds a day, throwing up all the time, had headaches, and was initially misdiagnosed at the first hospital she visited. Gross then moved her to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. After roughly six weeks, the children’s hospital was able to diagnose Hall after a biopsy of a muscle in her leg.
Because of her age, Gross said Hall’s story traveled the world. She received letters from New York to Australia. At 17, Hall’s story was featured in the Kentucky Post and Cincinnati Enquirer.
“She pushed through it for 22 years with the same illness,” Gross said. “She’s a single mom. She’s got a daughter that’s 16 years old, and she made sure that she cared for her daughter. She worked every day since she was 17 years old.”
Leading up to her surgery on Nov. 17, Gross said Hall wasn’t feeling well. When she checked her pulse, it was at 37, which Gross said should have been at 99 or 100. Gross said you could hear the fluid in her lungs.
Hall was drowning from the fluid build-up.
“She was suffocating because she couldn’t breathe, and I said I’m calling 911,” Gross said.
Two days after being put on the transplant list, the family received a call that Hall would receive her new lungs.
Gross said her daughter is a fighter.
“When she was having her surgery, it started at 4 a.m., but they let me see her before she went back, and I said, ‘Andrea if the door tries to shut on you, you push that door open. You kick it- don’t let that door shut. You have something to fight for, yourself and your daughter.’”
Hall received treatment at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. She is in a long-term facility there, where she must remain for a few months. Hall, who turned 39 in the hospital on Dec. 7, will be required to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of her life to ensure the lungs she received continue to work correctly.
Gross has been commuting back and forth from Crescent Springs to Columbus weekly to see her daughter.
“It gets expensive going back and forth with gas and hotel rooms,” Gross said.
She has also been caring for Hall’s daughter, Dior, while in the hospital.
Three Spirits Tavern, located on Fairfield Avenue in Bellevue, is holding a fundraiser to help cover Gross’ expenses while Hall is recovering.
The event is on Saturday, Dec. 28, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. It is open to the public and will feature a silent auction, split-the-pot raffle, and a portion of the night’s drink sales, benefiting Hall and her family.
“We wanted to create an opportunity for our community to come together and support Andrea’s recovery while also having a fun time with family and friends,” said Charlie Zimmerman, a friend of the family and owner of Three Spirits Tavern. “Northern Kentucky is a place where we all look out for each other, and this event is a way for us to show our support for one of our own.”
Three Spirits Tavern is located at 209 Fairfield Avenue in Bellevue.
Leslie Blair, the wife of Three Spirits Tavern Owner Charlie Zimmerman, has been friends with the family since the 1990s.
“We have for sure shared some tears at the kitchen table as moms,” Blair said. “I can only imagine how overwhelming it can be. A mother feels her daughter’s pain. I can’t wait for this to be behind her, and I pray for healing and progress each day.”
Prayer and her faith are something that Gross has leaned into throughout her daughter’s diagnosis. She said without trust and faith, you won’t get anywhere.
“Andrea is a very strong lady who has fought to get to where she’s at today,” Gross said. “When Andrea got to the hospital, she was half gone, and she’s back.”
Gross laughed, “I can tell she’s back because she gives me mean looks again.”
This story originally appeared on our partner's website LINK nky.
