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June 17 2011
Wythenshawe Hospital patient Becky Jones has made history by being the first patient with life threatening mutliple diseases to have a lung transplant.

Becky, from Dublin was suffering from multi-resistant Aspergillus - a large number of diseases involving both infection and growth of fungus as well as allergic responses. She also multiple fungal balls in her old lungs.

On May 29, 2011 she underwent a double lung transplant at UHSM (University Hospital of South Manchester) after being airlifted from her home by helicopter. She had been on the waiting list for over a year and was accepted for transplant only because the hospital at Wythenshawe also houses the National Aspergillosis Centre, which specialises in the treatment of multi-resistant Aspergillus infection.

Now, just 18 days later she is out of intensive care, tucking into her food and making plans for a future she thought she might never have. Becky says: "Words simply cannot begin to describe the pure relief I feel. The chains have been lifted; I can breathe! I can't, for the life of me, remember feeling so well! I now plan to travel and study fashion design at college. The world is officially my oyster!"

Professor David Denning, who is Director of the National Aspergillosis Centre, explains: "Becky's transplant brings together a remarkable set of expertises; in fungal infection, molecular testing, advanced transplantation techniques (Becky did not go on heart lung bypass) and intensive care, all under one roof. With increasing antifungal resistance since 2004, she is a courageous torchbearer for others."

Becky developed aspergillosis because she has cystic fibrosis. She became allergic to the common airborne fungus Aspergillus, as is common in those with cystic fibrosis (and sometimes asthma) (allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis or ABPA). Because she needed special drugs to improve her breathing, the fungus grew in her damaged airways to form large fungal balls (aspergillomas). Remarkably she developed 10 of these, never previously described.

She was treated with an antifungal drug but the fungus developed resistance. This sequence of events is increasingly common in patients referred to the National Aspergillosis Centre. She is now on preventative antifungal agents given by aerosol and intravenously, to minimise the risk of life-threatening invasive aspergillosis, which is common after lung transplantation because of immune suppression to prevent rejection.

Becky's transplant marks almost to the day the founding of the Fungal Research Trust 20 years ago, which has consistently supported laboratory testing within the National Aspergillosis Centre. Antifungal resistance is now found worldwide in Aspergillus having been published first in 1997 by the same clinical team, supported by the Fungal Research Trust. Patients are referred from all over the UK and abroad to Manchester for treatment.