Transplanted
COVID stole his breath — now his only hope is a double-lung transplant
Updated:
Photography by Godofredo A. Vásquez
Written by Julian Gill
It is Sept. 17, 2021. A doctor shouts a greeting at Jesus Ceja Ceja, whose lungs have shriveled into scarred and stagnant red fists of tissue. He sucks in just enough air to squeeze out a response:
“Somebody… somebody speak Spanish?” he asks, piecing together the little English he knows in his whispery voice.
An ECMO tube archs over Jesus' head and reaches down into his heart. The machine draws blood from his body, oxygenates it and sends it back into his bloodstream.
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It had been 6 weeks since Jesus was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital with catastrophic COVID-19 infection. His muscles, once bulging from picking sugarcane at his Cotija ranch, had disappeared completely.
His wife already knows the truth before doctors decide whether he can receive a lung transplant. Jesus will never again use his lungs.
Jesus plays with a car toy his 3-year-old son, Erick, sent him. The mementos from his children gives Jesus strength to battle through the illness.
In a miracle, Jesus meets three key criteria to be placed on a life support machine:: He is young and otherwise healthy with the damage isolated to the lungs. But the clock is still ticking.
Warning: Graphic images from a surgery
After Jesus matched with another donor, surgeons begin their work.
At 1:58 a.m., they cut away Jesus’ diseased left lung, gnarled and dead, as red as the blood draining from Jesus’ body.
At 2:05 a.m., an ice box arrives with the donor lungs.
Dr. Erik Suarez calls Perla to update her on the outcome of the double-lung transplant at Houston Methodist Hospital on Nov. 20, 2021.
Now freed from his hospital gown and IVs, Jesus makes himself comfortable, propping his feet on a table as his mother looks on. The family waits for the hospital's transport team to wheel Jesus outside.
Jesus checks out their new home. Perla is planning to pick up the children next week from Mexico.
Jesus self-administers an insulin shot before dinner, which he must do every meal.
Gabriel playfully pokes Jesus’ ear as the Ceja family spends Christmas Eve together.
Jesus looks up at a photograph of his late father – who died of COVID earlier in the year – while Victoria pleads her case to open presents before midnight on Christmas Eve.
Jesus speaks with a clinician during a doctor’s appointment while Perla tries to get Erick to play quieter. He and Perla must stay in constant communication with the hospital throughout his recovery.
Jesus sits on the porch as motorists drive past his home. Now restricted from working, he thinks about what the future holds for him and his family.
Photography by Godofredo A. Vásquez
Writing by Julian Gill
Visual editing by Jasmine Goldband