A former Manhattan Beach resident who has been fighting for his life after contracting COVID-19 has undergone a double lung transplant.
It has been one week since 51-year-old Eric Dellenbach had the procedure done at UC San Francisco medical center
Sam Schacher, Dellenbach’s sister-in-law, says he is thriving since the surgery, but has a long recovery ahead of him and is still not out of the woods.
"It's unbelievable. It's an absolute miracle," Schacher says. "We're all in awe of his determination, strength and resiliency."
She adds they are now in a window where they’re hoping that his kidneys wake up, if not, he will need dialysis, but everyone is remaining optimistic. The family says they're thankful for the donor.
It happened over the Christmas holidays. Dellenbach, his wife and their twin 7-year-old’s all got the coronavirus - but he ended up in the ICU.
GOFUNDME LINK: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-eric-dellenbach-family
"Never in a million years did we imagine that it would affect our family the way it did," says Sam Schacher who is Eric’s sister-in-law. "I want people to know that if this can happen to Eric, one of the healthiest, strongest, young, active, non-smoker, snowboarder, surfer, then this can happen to you."
She says the past two months have been excruciating with Eric in the ICU since early January on a ventilator. His wife and kids can’t be with him because of the pandemic. They talk to him every day, but he can’t talk back.
While Dellenbach has been on what’s called an ecmo machine which works as the lungs and heart, she says they’ve run out of options – absent a double lung transplant. They’re now searching for a team that is willing and able to do it.