During the night of June 19-20, Mrs. [Wilda Claffey] became the first recipient in the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals' new lung transplant program.

"She has done really well" since the operation, noted Dr. Paul Fairman, the MCV lung specialist who's been caring for her. She had a mild episode of attempted rejection of the transplanted lung about two weeks after surgery, but that was successfully treated, he said, and "she's now doing marvelously."

It was an MCV nurse transplant coordinator, who told Mrs. Claffey, "We have a present for you." She said she asked, "Oh, what is it?"