PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A teen-ager who unsuccessfully fought to get the Oregon Health Plan to cover the cost of a rare lifesaving transplant died Monday of respiratory failure, hospital officials said.
Brandy Stroeder, 19, had been awaiting a lung-liver-heart transplant to reverse the effects of cystic fibrosis, a disease that chokes the lungs with mucus and causes other organ damage, since October 2000.
``She was fighting up to the end of her life,' said Christine Pashley, a spokeswoman for Oregon Health & Science University hospital. ``She was really spunky and she had a will to live.'
A first attempt at a transplant was called off in December when doctors at the Stanford University Medical Center in California found traces of pneumonia in one of the donor lungs. Stroeder said then that she was disappointed, but had not given up hope.
``I'm going to go trying or I'm not going to go at all,' she had said.
Doctors had said Stroeder's only chance of survival was a lung-liver transplant. Although her heart was healthy, doctors said a successful transplant was more likely if the heart was also transplanted.
The Oregon Health Plan, which provides state-funded health coverage for low-income residents, had said the procedure was experimental and refused to cover the $250,000 cost.
Stroeder took her case to the Oregon Appeals Court, which ruled against her. She had said that getting the state to pay was a matter of principle, so those who came after her would have an easier time.
A community effort led by millionaire motel magnate Mark Hemstreet raised $300,000 toward Stroeder's medical costs.
Stroeder, who would have turned 20 next month, was brought to the hospital Saturday after she had difficulty breathing, Pashley said.
Eight lung-liver transplants have been performed in the United States. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, only three heart-lung-liver transplants have taken place.
