Ventura County Star: This Newbury Park Man Received a New Heart, Lungs and Kidney, All in Eight Months
The Ventura County Star recently published the incredible story of De Andre Johnson, a 32-year-old Newbury Park man who received a heart-lung transplant at Cedars-Sinai in January 2024 and then returned later that same year for a kidney transplant.
Johnson is one of only two people to receive a heart-lung transplant at Cedars-Sinai in 2024, according to the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center. Returning for another transplant within the same year makes his case even more rare.
“He was a very special, unique case,” Dominick Megna, MD, surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program and surgical co-director of the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit, told the Star.
According to his physicians, Johnson contracted histoplasmosis—a lung infection caused by fungus often found in the Midwest—probably more than a decade ago when he was growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. This condition triggered another rare disease called fibrosing mediastinitis, which caused scar tissue to severely damage his lungs and, eventually, his heart. The extensive damage called for extreme measures.
“We didn’t think there was any other way,” Megna told the Star. “We thought the safest and best thing was to do a heart and lung transplant. Get everything out of his chest at one time.”
The surgery and recovery put additional stress on his other organs, causing his kidneys to fail, and Johnson ended up on dialysis. Just a few months later, Johnson was back at Cedars-Sinai when a kidney became available.
Johnson is now recovering well from his many procedures, enjoying time with his daughter and looking forward to the first anniversary of his heart-lung transplant. He shared the gratitude and responsibility he feels as he lives his life with three new organs.
“You are given a second chance to live a normal life,” Johnson told the Star. “You don’t want to try messing it up.”
Click here to read the complete article from the Ventura County Star.