In the long human struggle against the body's own limits, Elizabeth Wehrle's story stands as a rare convergence of medical courage and personal will. The 36-year-old Iowa woman, already living with the legacy of one failed lung transplant and the cumulative toll of cystic fibrosis, became the first known person in the United States to receive a quadruple-organ transplant following a prior lung transplant rejection — a procedure performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in early 2026. Her case did not emerge from ambition but from necessity, and it is precisely that necessity — sha
Iowa woman becomes first to receive quadruple transplant after previous lung rejection
Wehrle faced life-threatening pneumonia, spent weeks in intensive care on life support, and lost 30 pounds before the surgery; her recovery required months of hospitalization and rehabilitation away from her 11-year-old son.