A West Virginia woman married the love of her life on Sept. 28 after receiving a double lung transplant and meeting and falling in love with her late donor's brother.
Jennifer Ellis, who also happens to be Ms. West Virginia America 2015, underwent a double-lung transplant at Cleveland Clinic in 2019, receiving a set of lungs from late donor Jill Ellis.
"My call came. The lungs are here. They found a set for me and I'm so excited," Jennifer Ellis said in a video recorded shortly before her transplant surgery. "It's definitely bittersweet because I know that some beautiful young lady had to pass away in order for me to get my lungs. I don't know that I'll ever know who you are, but thank you."
According to Cleveland Clinic, Jennifer Ellis was born with situs inversus, a rare condition where the body's organs are flipped.
"My heart, stomach and spleen are on the right side instead of the left, and my gallbladder and liver are on the left instead of the right," Jennifer Ellis told Cleveland Clinic.
After being diagnosed with situs inversus at birth, Ellis was later diagnosed with primary ciliary dyskinesia, a condition that can lead to frequent sinus infections, lung damage, and can also be associated with situs inversus, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Jennifer Ellis' condition turned into a chronic situation, and despite previously leading an active lifestyle, doctors eventually recommended her for the transplant waiting list.
"I was very active before this, but that had to stop, because it got to the point where I was constantly hooked up to machines. I couldn't really go anywhere except for the doctor's [office]," Jennifer Ellis told Cleveland Clinic.
After receiving her new lungs, Jennifer Ellis said she experienced transplant rejection, but she said she is working with her care team to build up her lung strength.
Along the way, she met her late donor Jill Ellis' family, including her brother Travis Ellis, who lived in Wisconsin.
"When I met Travis for the first time, I thought he was cute as could be," Jennifer Ellis told Cleveland Clinic. "But I never thought in a thousand years it would turn into anything. It wasn't even an option in my head because of the distance."
But the two hit it off and became friends in what Jennifer Ellis described to Cleveland Clinic as an "instant" connection. Later, their friendship turned into something more, and they fell in love.
"Whenever she was at the hospital, I would check on her so she didn't feel lonely. Everything just happened naturally," Travis Ellis told Cleveland Clinic.
Travis Ellis proposed to Jennifer in July 2023 and the couple tied the knot 14 months later. In addition to their families and friends, the Ellises also said "I do" in front of their guest of honor, one of Jennifer Ellis' doctors, Dr. Marie Budev, a pulmonologist and the medical director of Cleveland Clinic's lung transplant and heart-lung transplant programs.
"When Jennifer asked me to be the guest of honor at her wedding, I was so flattered," Budev said. "But the real guest of honor is her donor, and [she was] there with us in spirit."
Jennifer Ellis said organ donation saves lives and Jill Ellis' gift to her has been nothing short of life-changing.
"Becoming an organ donor saves lives. It allows others to create memories they wouldn't have if it wasn't for organ donation," she said. "Without my donor, I would have never met the love of my life."
