(Chicago Sun Times) – After facing colorectal cancer for nearly eight years, Mandy Wilk got a double-lung transplant in June at Northwestern. She has no signs of cancer in her body and has not needed further cancer treatments.

At that point, “I traveled to almost every major health system across the country, and they all told me there was nothing more they could do,” Wilk told reporters during a news conference Wednesday at Northwestern Medicine Prentice Women’s Hospital.

That’s when the 42-year-old learned about Northwestern’s Double Lung Replacement and Multidisciplinary Care program, also called DREAM. The initiative is the only one in the country that offers lung transplants to cancer patients who have run out of treatment options, according to Northwestern Medicine.

Wilk got a new set of lungs June 3 at Northwestern, a first for the hospital and likely the first in the world. (Read More)