Lauren, a beautiful young woman has been struggling for every breath suffering a condition that required her to desperately need bilateral lung transplants ... both my DD and I knew this very pleasant awesome young woman ... she used to manage one of our favorite stores ... at my highest weight I was shopping in the Plus Size section on her store and at my smallest she would help me find clothes that would fit and still look mature in the junior's section ... then there was a lapse ... we saw her no more ... she worked at the store no more ...we thought just maybe she moved on to better things ...

Then the news came that this woman had approached one of the ladies at the zumba studio where my DD subs sometimes ... it is not her regular studio ... a woman just in passing got into conversation with the owner and told her about her concerns about her daughter who was in recovery in a hospital in New York after waking from a coma following bilateral lung transplants .... OMG it was our Lauren ... and that kind and compassionate woman who owns that zumba studio called a group of fitness instructors and friends and strangers alike and organized a zumbathon benefit for Lauren as funds were low and cost of treatment extensively high and family and friends were desperately trying to bring Lauren back home to Connecticut for continued recovery in her home state... home to family and friends but most of all to her son...

The doctors at one time according to her mother (read the article) recommended she pull the plug ... but faith ... perseverance ... hope and the prayers and well wishes of so many friends/family and total strangers alike called for VICTORY ... In the midst of the sadness of yesterday's tragedy in Colorado where some lost there lives senselessly at the hands of a shooter... LAUREN CAME HOME ...

LET'S HEAR IT FOR VICTORY!!!!  I was so happy to celebrate Lauren's coming home...

I WAS SOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY AND EQUALLY PROUD TO BE THE MOM OF THE VERY TALL GAL IN THE GROUP OF ZUMBA INSTRUCTORS IN THE PICTURE ATTACHED... MY VERY OWN DAUGHTER AND MY PERSONAL FITNESS INSTRUCTOR WHO ALSO CELEBRATES ONE YEAR ... FROM BEING DIAGNOSED WITH A DEBILITATING AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE (POLYMYOSITIS/
DERMATOMYOSITIS) ... AND HOSPITALIZATION WHERE AT ONE POINT WE WERE SO CONCERNED SHE COULD NOT MOVE .. TODAY SHE IS THE PICTURE OF HEALTH AND FINALLY OFF THE HIGH DOSE MEDICATIONS THAT STILL HAVE HER BATTLING WITH HER WEIGHT ... FROM NOT BEING ABLE TO MOVE A MUSCLE FOR MONTHS AFTER SHE HAS BEEN AT IT AGAIN ... EVERYONE WHO KNOWS HER AT THE GYM CALLS HER THE BEAST ... SHE IS GOOD AT IT TOO ... SHE WAS THERE ... FREELY VOLUNTEERING FOR A CAUSE ... MOVING AND DANCING AND SHAKING 100% OF HER BODY TOTALLY COMPLETE WITH A CPK OF 100 NORMAL!!! WOOT....

I LOVE MY DD check out my offspring towering over everyone else  ... now see why I wear heels? LOL... THIS IS THE GROUP OF INSTRUCTORS WHO VOLUNTEERED TIME AND TALENT FOR THE ZUMBATHON TO BENEFIT TEAM LAUREN....

WOOT!!! GO LAUREN!
http://www.wtnh.com//dpp/news/health/double-lung-transplant- patient-back-in-ct-after-more-than-a-120-days-in-coma?fb_ref =.UAoTDGCIDbw.like&fb_source=home_multiline 
Double lung transplant patient back in CT after 120 days in coma

Updated: Friday, 20 Jul 2012, 6:17 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 20 Jul 2012, 4:50 PM EDT

• Jocelyn Maminta

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- It's the inspiring story of a New Haven woman who had a double lung transplant, a journey that took her right by death's door.

First it was Lupus, then last year Lauren Warner was diagnosed with Interstitial Lung Disease.   

"It's inflammation and scar tissue on your lungs," Lauren said. 

That led to a double lung transplant in a New York hospital. 
  
"I was scared, I didn't know what was to come," she said. 

What was to come was more than a 120 days in a coma.  Lauren remembers little. 

"I was sleeping in the whole month of December and the whole month of January," she said. 

Meanwhile her mother, Carlyn Warner, kept a patient vigil. 

"The doctors were telling me that she wasn't going to make it and that we should take her off from life support," Carlyn said. 
  
Lauren was put on three different life support systems. 

"I was told to call the family and come say goodbye," her mother said. 
    
However, the family's faith prevailed. Still, while Lauren had her eyes closed, it was tested again. 

Carlyn had a heart attack. 

"Everything turned out okay by the grace of God, I didn't even know what had happened," she said.  

Thankfully, Lauren woke up in February. 

"I was thinking where are my gifts from Christmas," Lauren said. 

Bits and pieces are what she can recall. 

"My mother, I would hear her voice," Lauren said. "I would hear my brother singing to me." 

Now back in Connecticut, her brother and aunt are among the steady stream of visitors, empowering her to grow stronger as she recovers step by step. 
         
"I have to go home, to my son and my family, and I want to run a marathon one day," Lauren said. 

And Lauren is less shy and reticent.    

"There's a reason. Somebody needed to hear this story," she said. 

Team Lauren, composed of family and friends, has held a number of fundraisers to help offset Lauren's medical bills. 

Last month though, someone broke into Carlyn's house and stole the money raised at a zumbathon. 

That's not getting her down, Carlyn says she still has a lot to be happy about now that her daughter is on the road to recovery.