Fleming County woman needs rare heart-lung transplant
and last updated 2021-02-12 19:57:09-05
HILLSBORO, Ky. (LEX 18) â Twenty-one year-old Kennedy Maze has fought cystic fibrosis her entire life.
Cystic fibrosis is a disease which affects about 35,000 people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disorder that causes problems with breathing and digestion.
In 2013, Maze underwent a double lung transplant as a teenager after doctors found the cystic fibrosis was in her lungs. In 2015, Maze was diagnosed with stage 4 Burkitt lymphoma and began treatment for the cancer. Then in 2020, Mazeâs body began rejecting her transplant lungs and she was put back on the lung transplant list. While undergoing a series of testing, doctors discovered a complication. Maze was experiencing heart failure.