MIDDLETOWN—April is Donate Life Month and for most people it’s about as personal as checking a box when they go the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to get or renew their license.
Ellen Dunn, a Scotchtown resident, was in such a DMV in Middletown on April 14 with a table full of pamphlets, pens, and pins talking to Orange County residents about the importance of checking that box.
Dunn is a double lung transplant recipient whose surgery in 2008 saved her life.
In her late 40’s, Dunn noticed that when she would take walks with her colleagues during lunch she was becoming increasingly out of breath to the point where she could either walk or talk, but not both. She tried exercising more thinking she was just out of shape, but it only got worse to the point where she became bedridden.
After testing, she was told her lungs had layers and layers of scarring, a result of an illness called pulmonary fibrosis that has no cure. She was told she needed a double lung transplant.
