West Virginia native gets a double lung donation, finds love and marries donor’s brother

A double lung donation has changed the life of a patient at the Cleveland Clinic in more ways than one, not only saving her life, but leading her to love, too, and marriage to the late donor’s brother.

Jennifer Ellis was placed on the waiting list for a transplant back in 2018, when symptoms from situs inversus and primary ciliary dyskinesia worsened, leading her to be hospitalized for 10 months and placed on oxygen.

In a video recorded from 2019, Ellis (nee Skaggs) describes receiving a call from the Cleveland Clinic informing her that they had found a pair of lungs.

After a long recovery, Ellis received a holiday card from her donor’s family, to which she replied with a six-page letter. After a few exchanges, the family eventually traveled from Wisconsin to West Virginia to meet Ellis, which in turn led her to meet her donor Jill’s brother, Travis.

Jennifer, who tied the knot with Travis on September 28 this year, urged people to consider enlisting as organ donors, saying that, “Without my donor, I would have never met the love of my life.”

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