'I am so grateful' says woman who received lifesaving double-lung transplant

ORLANDO, Fla. - Shavonne Thomas was living a great life, with kids, grandkids, and a job she loved. But then one day in 2016, a great life turned into a grave diagnosis. 

"This horrible disease called pulmonary fibrosis," explains Thomas. 

It's a disease that causes thickened mucus to form in the lungs, causing lung damage and making it progressively harder to breathe. There is no cure. She was dying and would need a double-lung transplant to survive.

"I knew someone had to pass away in order for me to get the lungs."

She says her lowest point to turn to oxygen tanks and couldn't move around without carrying at least five or six tanks wherever she went.

"Even though I said I knew God was with me, at some point I still felt like the what if I didn't make it and what if someone had to come home and find me deceased. I always wondered what would my kids' life be like without mom."

After losing weight, but never losing her faith, on September 28, 2018, she received a fateful call. 

"It was my doctor. He said, 'Are you sitting or standing?'" as he informed her of a donor. 

She had the transplant the very next day. 

"When they pushed me back for surgery and when those doors closed, once I got in there and they closed those doors, I knew then that some doors were gonna open for me."

The transplant did not go as smoothly as she had hoped.

"I ended up with lung rejection. It was a time in point where I didn't think I was going to make it after the lung transplant. I stayed in the hospital for over three months and the normal time is three weeks."

But finally, she went home. She still has one wish to make this incredible journey complete. 

"My last wish on earth is to meet my donor's family. I would say I am so grateful for you allowing your family member to do this perfect gesture for me and I would like to thank you so much."