Second Wind

Many people have suffered from diseases that literally take their breath away. Second Wind relates the compelling stories of 'ordinary' Americans who sought a second chance through lung transplantation and the historical and socio-medical factors that affected them. Excerpts from oral history interviews reveal the physical and psychological challenges of deciding to pursue a transplant, waiting for a donor organ, and adapting to a new life with a lung from someone who died. Meaningful for those facing transplantation, their caregivers, scholars, and people outside the transplant community, Second Wind explores themes of uncertainty, timing, identity, coping, and quality of life.

Mary Jo Festle is a professor of History at Elon University, where she teaches courses in recent U.S. History and Oral History. She is also the author of Playing Nice: Politics and Apologies in Women's Sports. Her brother Bob had a lung transplant.