WHO WE ARE

HELPING LUNG TRANSPLANT PATIENTS

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BREATHING NEW LIFE, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is comprised entirely of volunteers who are patients or are friends or family members of patients who have had, or are waiting for, lung transplants at the M Health Fairview – University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC). While the underlying diseases vary, we or our loved ones have each experienced an end-stage prognosis requiring a life-saving lung transplant. Many of the directors on the Breathing New Life Board are lung-transplant recipients and share the desire to give back to the lung-transplant community.

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Our Mission

To educate and support M Health Fairview lung-transplant patients and their families, and to promote public awareness of transplant-related needs, so we may ease the financial burden of those patients most in need of assistance.

Our Vision

The financial needs of our transplant friends and their immediate families far exceed our ability to pay 100% of the costs. It is our hope that sometime soon we will be able to do more for those who most need our help.

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Our Story

Breathing New life, formerly known as Hope Chest News, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in December 2003. Prior to that, volunteers published a newsletter with the goal to educate and connect transplant support-group members. Funds were raised solely to cover postage and printing costs.

In 2003, it became clear that our group had more funds than were required to cover newsletter expenses, while some lung-transplant patients’ financial needs outweighed their need for information. We were formed, “So we may walk side by side with others needing lung transplants so they never have to walk this journey alone.”