UNOS celebrates the life and advocacy of Julie Ice, a lung recipient and a member of the OPTN Patient Affairs Committee at the time of her passing in May 2023.
Ms. Ice pursued a career in public relations and lobbying while battling cystic fibrosis in early adulthood. She suffered a rapid decline in her health in 2011, which led to her being placed on a ventilator and listed for a lung transplant. “Six hours before the doctors told me I would die, my miracle lungs became available,” she said of her transplant experience. She credits her transplanted lungs with saving her life a second time, years later, during a severe bout with COVID-19.
She began her volunteer advocacy with her local organ procurement organization, Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, and joined the Patient Affairs Committee in 2021. She also took part in a workgroup that developed a white paper promoting transparency in factors patients should consider in selecting a transplant program.
“I have volunteered any chance I could,” she said of her post-transplant life. “This is my dream. To change lives through organ donation.”
Additional information about Ms. Ice, including a memorial scholarship established in her honor, may be found here.
