Margot Halpin was born at Mount Sinai in New York City with a ventricular septal defect (VSD). Three months later the Halpin family moved to Chapel Hill and met with the Cardiology & Surgery teams at UNC Children’s Hospital NC Pediatric Heart Center to plan her care.

Three years ago, Robert Martin, at the age of 59, was on the brink of losing his job. As a group leader for process mechanics at a biopharmaceutical company in North Carolina’s research triangle, Robert’s job was physically demanding, keeping him on his feet 8 to 10 hours a day. For 19 years he has been working with mechanics, walking from place to place across the expanse of his company’s manufacturing facility to make sure systems stayed running efficiently.

Howell Graham, who received a lung transplant at UNC Hospitals, is now the longest-surviving lung transplant patient in the United States. He talks about his transplant, the first for a cystic fibrosis patient at UNC, and his appreciation for the better life he received with his new lungs. Thomas M. Egan, M.D., M.Sc., was Graham’s transplant surgeon.