Decades After Landmark OHSU Heart Transplant, First Woman In Oregon Receives Second Lifesaving Transplant

Oregon Woman Who Underwent First Successful Cardiac Transplant In State Survives Two Transplants

USA: Shannon Lesby of Portland has endured a rare, decades-long odyssey of cardiac transplantation that began nearly 40 years ago when physicians at Oregon Health & Science University determined she urgently needed a new heart after tests revealed advanced cardiomyopathy. That first heart transplant made her the first woman in Oregon to have a successful cardiac transplant and set the stage for an extraordinary life extension that surprised her medical team.

Doctors initially offered only a few years of expected survival after the first operation, yet Lesby went on to raise two sons with her husband, Brad, and build a life that outpaced those early prognoses. Two decades after that groundbreaking procedure, new symptoms emerged: breathlessness and exertional limitations that interrupted simple tasks such as walking across a parking lot. Those warning signs prompted further intervention.

Cardiac surgeons performed a triple bypass and placed stents in her transplanted heart, but those measures proved insufficient. Medical teams concluded she required another heart transplant. That second transplantation was carried out successfully, marking a remarkable sequence of life-saving operations that highlight both the durability and limits of cardiac replacement therapy, the evolving role of reoperation, and the resilience of a patient determined to keep living.

Now recuperating from a recent pelvis fracture and taking life more slowly, Lesby reflects on a long medical journey that threaded crisis, cutting-edge surgery, and long-term survival. Her story underscores advancements in transplantation medicine and the complex, ongoing care many recipients need — from initial procurement and implantation to later vascular and reoperative cardiac procedures. It is also a personal narrative about choosing to live fully amid recurrent health challenges and the sustained support of family and clinical teams.

Video originally published on 2026-02-25 17:00:54