Transplant recipient, 13, remains determined to honor his lung donor
Cameron Witsman may not seem like a typical 13-year-old boy. He’d rather be outdoors riding his bicycle, going on a hike or playing basketball than glued to a phone or playing video games.
That passion for exercise and the outdoors comes from his determination to make good use of the lungs he received as an infant in a life-saving transplant at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Cameron was born in 2009 with congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation, a benign mass of abnormal lung tissue that appears before birth.
He was just 3 months old when he underwent surgery at Texas
Children’s Hospital, which at the time was one of just two hospitals in the U.S. that performed infant lung transplants.
Thirteen years later, Cameron — who lives with his family in northwest Florida — is thankful for the gift he received from his organ donor.
He’s showing his gratitude by putting his lungs to use as often as he can.
He ran a 5K as part of the virtual Transplant Games competition in 2020, and he’s looking forward to competing at an in-person event sometime in the future.
“I just want to inspire people,” he said. “Don’t take anything for granted, because anything can happen.”
“I just want to inspire people. Don’t take anything for granted, because anything can happen.” Cameron Witsman
Cameron is among 240 children who’ve received lung transplants at Texas Children’s since the hospital began its pediatric lung transplant program 20 years ago.
The hospital is still among just a half-dozen in the U.S. that perform the surgeries, and over the past decade Texas Children’s has performed more infant lung transplants than any other hospital in the nation.
Pediatric lung transplants are rare; only 36 were performed nationwide in 2020, though there are typically 50 to 75 annually, said Dr. Tina Melicoff, the medical director of Texas Children’s lung transplant program.
They help children like Cameron who are born with lung disorders, or who have conditions that affect the lungs such as cystic fibrosis or pulmonary hypertension.
Half of the children who’ve undergone lung transplants at Texas Children’s hospital have lived with their new lungs for at least 7½ years, higher than the national average of five years, Melicoff said.
Those who had the surgery as infants have even better outcomes, with half living with their new lungs for at least 12½ years. And 10 percent of Texas Children’s patients are undergoing a lung transplant for a second time.
The surgeries are bittersweet, because the lungs are taken from deceased donors.
Melicoff said she’s constantly humbled by the generosity of donor families who have experienced an immense tragedy and choose to save another child. Those sacrifices are vital to recipients and their families, she said.
“They’re very thankful for every single moment, every single memory they’ve been able to make,” she said.
Whatever it takes
Doctors discovered something was wrong minutes after Cameron was born at a small community hospital in Florida.
His lips and his fingernails were blue, which is usually an indication of low blood oxygen levels or poor circulation. When an X-ray revealed something was wrong with his lungs, they transferred him to a larger hospital in Orlando.
A CT scan revealed he’d been born with CCAM, a rare condition that affects 1 in 25,000 to 35,000 children.
Just days later he needed a surgery known as a lobectomy to remove two of the three lobes of his right lung. His surgeon told Witsman there were so many cysts on his lung that they looked like popcorn.
The surgery was supposed to resolve the issue, but doctors discovered another problem. The cysts were so large that they had caused his lungs to be underdeveloped.
Doctors tried to put him on oxygen and then a ventilator to give his lungs more time to develop, but it quickly became apparent Cameron needed a lung transplant.
The news came as a shock to Witsman, who was just 20 years old and didn’t know much about lung transplants. But she was determined to do whatever it took to keep her son alive.
“I’m not going to let him die here in the hospital,” she said. “We have to do something, to try whatever we can.”
Cameron was just 3 months old when his doctors arranged to have him transferred to Houston so he could begin the evaluations and assessments needed to find a new set of lungs.
During that time, Witsman lived at the Ronald McDonald House Houston, near the Texas Medical Center. Her parents and her sister came to visit from time to time, but she was mostly on her own while she waited.
Cameron completed his evaluations and was officially placed on the transplant list by midJune 2009, but it was clear he needed new lungs as soon as possible.
His condition began to deteriorate by Fourth of July weekend. Doctors told Witsman that Cameron might need extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a treatment that can provide cardiac and respiratory support for children who are awaiting heart or lung transplants.
Witsman cried herself to sleep the night of July 6, 2009. Doctors had told her not to lose hope, but she knew her son was running out of time.
“I just remember being so depressed because my child was literally knocking on death’s door,” she said. “And I, as his mom, there was literally nothing I could do except pray.”
Her prayers were answered a few hours later when she woke up to the sound of the pager the hospital had given to her. Cameron was getting a new set of lungs.
The surgery took place July 7, 2009, and lasted more than 11 hours.
Witsman’s mother and sister flew to Houston to join her by the end of the procedure, which went smoothly. Her mother stayed in Houston for the next three months until Cameron was well enough to return to Florida with his mother.
Family is grateful
Thirteen years later, Cameron is grateful for the lungs he received as an infant. He and his mother travel to Houston every six to 12 months for tests, but he otherwise lives a fairly typical life.
“His visits right now, we love to have him here, but they’re very short,” Melicoff said. “We make sure that the lungs are healthy and then we send him back home.”
Cameron loves being outside so much that he doesn’t even mind doing yard work.
He likes riding his bicycle, and he took a shining to a hip-hop dance class he found through his cousin. He can’t play football, but he loves to play other sports like basketball and soccer.
“I don’t really have any problems,” he said.
Like Melicoff, Witsman is grateful to the anonymous donor family who helped to save Cameron’s life. She’s amazed by their ability to think of someone else after losing their own child.
“Without them, Cameron wouldn’t be alive,” she said. “I’m so thankful. There’s no words in the world that could ever express my gratitude.”