New lungs give Gabriel Chavez a fresh start

Gabriel Chavez spent years fighting for air.

What started as a stubborn cough in his 30s slowly became an unrelenting battle with hypersensitivity pneumonitis — a rare lung disease that causes inflammation and scarring. Medications didn’t help. Immunosuppressants offered little relief. Even moving from Mexico City to Cancun for the lower altitude didn’t make a difference.

By age 50, Chavez’s lungs were failing. His doctors told him he needed a transplant.

That’s when Chavez turned to the lung transplant team at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. The lung transplant program at Baylor St. Luke’s is one of the top in the country, with more than 100 lung transplants performed in 2024 alone.

The International Services team at Baylor St. Luke’s helped Chavez gather medical records, complete the necessary paperwork and arrange travel to Houston. When he arrived in August 2022, he was on oxygen around the clock.

Two months later, Dr. Ramiro Fernandez, thoracic surgeon at Baylor Medicine and assistant professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, performed Chavez’s double lung transplant.

The surgery was a success. Chavez went home just two weeks later, ready to start his next chapter.

But his recovery wasn’t smooth.

In the months after his transplant, Chavez developed diffuse bilateral airway stenosis — an exceptionally rare condition that caused his airways to narrow, making it difficult to breathe.

“It’s an unusual complication, one we don’t see often,” Fernandez said. “But our team at Baylor Medicine is prepared to handle these complex cases. We have the expertise, the resources and the collaborative approach to manage the toughest challenges in lung transplantation.”

Chavez’s care team, including advanced interventional pulmonologists, tried every option: airway dilations, stent placements — anything to keep his lungs functioning. But the scarring was too severe.

A second transplant was his only hope.

Dr. Gabriel Loor, surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program at Baylor St. Luke’s and thoracic surgeon at Baylor Medicine, performed the bilateral lung transplant.

This time, Chavez’s recovery went smoothly.

“I feel better than I did in my 20s,” Chavez said. “It’s been incredible to breathe without struggling. I’m so thankful to the team for making this possible.”

Now back in Cancun, Chavez is focused on what matters most — spending time with family, enjoying the simple things and not taking a single breath for granted.

By Tiffany Harston, senior communications specialist in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery