Longest surviving single lung transplant patient (female)

The longest surviving single lung transplant patient is Pamela Everett (USA, b. 24 June 1964), who has lived 34 years 77 days, as of 9 February 2025, since receiving her transplant on 24 November 1990 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Everett underwent the procedure after being diagnosed with the rare lung disorder pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a condition that runs in her family.

Everett was only the fourth patient to receive a lung transplant at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The procedure was overseen by surgeons Bill Frist and Walter Merrill.

Her pulmonologist since the transplant, Professor of Medicine Ivan Robbins, suggests that the chances of surviving six years after a lung transplant are only around 50%; more than 10 years reduces those odds to approximately 30%.