Heartbreak as mother-of-two, 46, dies after 18 weeks on a ventilator and a DOUBLE lung transplant after going for routine check up for a cold… and finding she was dying from horror disease

A Kentucky woman who thought she was going to the doctor for a cold but ended up with a horrible disease that forced her to get a double lung transplant and spend months on a ventilator has died. 

Teacher Emily Presley, 46, went to the doctor for what she thought was a cold in May of 2022. Her husband said that before that, she was a ‘picture of health’ who rarely got sick.

She ended up in the hospital for 16 months after it had developed into severe infections and four months on an advanced ventilator that did the work of her heart and lungs.

Presley eventually suffered from infections that compromised her lungs and had a virus that caused inflammation throughout her body. 

In October 2022, she had to go through a pair of double lung transplants within days of one another because ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) had destroyed her lungs.

‘Time after time she defied the odds,’ husband Jeff Presley said. ‘Who could possibly overcome such a trial. Emily.’

Presley’s immune system reacted negatively to proteins from the new lungs and she was recommended to have them removed and listed for a transplant again.

‘I told the medical team that Emily and I love our life together. We love our friends. We love our community. So if there’s a chance that she can survive and have good quality of life, then the answer to a second transplant is ‘yes,’ Jeff Presley said.

Within 24 hours, she’d received another match and the transplant had been successful. 

She was eventually able to go home and spend Thanksgiving 2023 with her husband, two children and her new lungs.

‘I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and I’m so glad my Northwestern Medicine lung transplant team could get me home to share that gratitude with my family, my friends and the Lexington community,’ said Presley at the time. 

‘It’s wonderful to be home with my kids and my dog.’

Unfortunately, while she had plans to return to teaching, eventually her health took a turn for the worse again.

Her family confirmed she died surrounded by loved ones at 4am on Tuesday morning.

‘She was ready. She was prepared. And it took all she had,’ said husband Jeff.

“Emily’s radiance went such a long way and impacted people so deeply,” added sister Leslie Cunningham.

Her husband and two teenage children had been helped throughout this ordeal with a Gofundme that drew over $100,000 in donations.

The family will be celebrating her life over the weekend.