A 33-year-old COVID-19 survivor is breathing easier after undergoing a lifesaving double lung transplant at Houston Methodist Hospital, capping off a remarkable medical journey that included six months on a heart-lung machine.
Andrew Capen spent half a year on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, one of the longest durations recorded globally. ECMO is typically used as a last-resort life support system for patients with severe lung or heart failure.
Under the care of Dr. Eddie Suarez and Houston Methodist’s lung transplant team, Capen received donor lungs earlier this year. He is now on the road to recovery and says he is deeply grateful for the gift of life.
“I’m not gonna waste them,” Capen said of his new lungs.
Houston Methodist, which performed its first lung transplant in 1987, operates one of the busiest lung transplant programs in the nation. The hospital is known for taking on complex cases and for its use of innovative surgical techniques, including robotic-assisted procedures.
Online, other patients and families shared their own stories of recovery, praising the hospital’s care.
“My mom received a double lung transplant at Methodist and couldn’t be more happy with her team,” one user wrote on Reddit. “She is doing much better… going from basically dying to running errands with my dad and learning how to crochet.”
Another person added: “They saved my husband’s life… They transplant sicker patients than other hospitals, and successfully.”
The hospital continues to collaborate with organ procurement organizations such as LifeGift to improve donor availability and promote equity in transplantation.
Capen’s case is being hailed as an example of how medical innovation and patient resilience can combine to achieve extraordinary outcomes.