'Like a brand new person': P.E.I. man recovering well from double lung transplant

Shari Roberston says her 24-year-old son is "like a brand new person" ever since his double lung transplant last month.

"Sometimes I just look at him and stare," she said. "I haven't been able to see him do what he's doing now since he was a young boy."

Her son is still adjusting, too. Luke Allen has cystic fibrosis, a fatal genetic disease that gradually destroys the lungs.

It's been a while since he could breathe this well.

"Everyday walking is pretty different for me because before I'd have a hard time getting up a flight of stairs and now I'm going for walks down the street, so that's definitely changed."

The surgery went well, he said, and the recovery — so far so good.

Allen, who was born on P.E.I. and now lives in Halifax, said if all goes as planned, he should be out of the hospital and back home by May.

I don't mean to be morbid or anything like that but we probably wouldn't be having this conversation if I didn't get the organs, so I'm really fortunate.— Luke Allen

It's been an overwhelming few months for the family, Robertson said. They spent seven weeks sleeping with their phones under their pillows, waiting for the call that would tell them a donor had been found.

Then travelling to Toronto for the surgery, and watching her son take his first breaths with his new lungs.

Allen said he doesn't remember much about those first breaths because he was still heavily sedated.

"I do remember the breathing tube was causing me a lot of discomfort and I wanted to get that out of there pretty quick and so I remember trying to convince the nurses to get that out and I remember for a few seconds after they took it out for the first time it was definitely weird and it was really different for me."

In an interview on CBC News: Compass, Allen said he is thankful for all the people who have helped him through his life, and to the family of the "generous" person who passed away and donated the organs.

"I don't mean to be morbid or anything like that but we probably wouldn't be having this conversation if I didn't get the organs, so I'm really fortunate."

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