RJ Redstrom

Lying in a Henrico Doctors' Hospital ICU bed on Sept. 25, 2020, RJ Redstrom, vice president of human resources for CJW Hospitals, and his family were told to prepare for the end of his life. RJ had been in treatment for COVID-19 for about a month since a cough and a positive COVID-19 test had started a life-changing journey. He had undergone the unexpected transition from being an athletic and independent healthcare professional to being a patient relying on his HCA Healthcare Capital Division colleagues to keep him alive. His lungs, ravaged by the COVID-19 virus, were failing and he was not responding to the COVID-19 treatments known at that time.

“My family and I were just getting our heads around this news when I found out that some of my HCA Healthcare colleagues had not given up on me,” he said. RJ had elected to be admitted to Henrico Doctors' Hospital because he knew that COVID-19 patients could have complications. “I chose Henrico Doctors’ because I didn’t want to go to Chippenham Hospital where I worked in case something bad happened. I didn’t want my co-workers there to have to see that.”

While RJ was concerned about his colleagues and how they would handle his illness, his co-workers were rallying behind him. The CJW Hospitals chief executive officer (William Lunn, MD) and chief medical officer (Raymond G. Makhoul, MD) were not ready to give up on RJ. They reached out to pulmonologist Dr. Rajiv Malhotra to review the case. While the treatment had only been completed on two other COVID-19 patients in the nation at the time, Dr. Malhotra recommended a double lung transplant.

If successful, RJ would become the third patient in the United States and the first patient in Virginia to undergo a double lung transplant due to lungs destroyed by irreversible damage caused by Covid-19. Together, RJ’s colleagues reached out to other lung transplant experts and on Sept. 29, surgeons at University of Virginia Hospital agreed to take the case.

RJ was transported to Charlottesville that night and put through a battery of tests to determine if he was healthy enough to survive the surgery. He was intubated and on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which was keeping him alive because his lungs were failing.

On Oct. 10, RJ’s family was told that a set of lungs had just became available. Disappointment trumped hope when the transplant team found that the donor lungs were not suitable for transplantation. RJ and his family were back in line among the 107,000 Americans awaiting an organ, hoping new donor lungs would become available before his body wore out.

Three days later, another set of donor lungs were found, and RJ was whisked into surgery. Thanks to the work of the UVA surgeons and medical caregivers, the surgery was a success and RJ was given another chance at living.

“I was so confused when I woke up on Oct. 15,” RJ admitted. He didn’t realize he’d had a double lung transplant while he was in a medically-induced coma until others told him what had happened. “There was extreme joy about being alive and having a future, but there’s death and life there.”

“Everyone else had to deal with the emotions,” he said. “I was out cold for three weeks.” His thoughts turned to the family who decided to donate the lungs he received. RJ knew that his second chance was coming at a price, because the donor’s family would be mourning the loss of their loved one as his family rejoiced. By Thanksgiving, RJ was back in his own home continuing rehab that had been making him stronger for that month after his surgery. The avid cyclist and athlete was too weak to walk up his stairs when he got home. “I crawled in,” he said. He had lost 50 pounds during his 76 days as an inpatient.

He worked hard to recover, lifting weights, exercising, and taking dozens of pills every day to ward off his body rejecting the lungs. On Feb. 23, 2021, he reached a major milestone and took his first jog with his new lungs. He has now run/walked more than 12 miles each week. He’s gained back 16 of the pounds he lost, and is back to work part-time.