October 2006 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SHANNA BUTLER, EXCEPT AS NOTED
BY MARILYN FAULKNER
Hope for Jenny depended on the generosity
and support of her ward family.
Twenty-four-year-old Jennifer Sabin Sattley looks and
acts like a typical young lady. A faithful Latter-day
Saint and full of enthusiasm, she recently graduated
from college with a degree in interior design. On May 26,
2006, she married Patrick Sattley in the San Diego California
Temple. Yet Jenny is anything but typical. She is, in fact, the
recipient of a double-lung transplant from living donors, and
her story is a chronicle of courage, faith, and Christlike love.
Jenny is the fourth of five children born to Gary and
Valerie Sabin of Poway, California. They were high school
acquaintances, but it was after each had completed a fulltime
mission that their life paths merged and they were married.
A daughter, Kimberly, was born, and then a son, Justin.
When Justin was a few months old, Gary and Valerie became
concerned about some unusual symptoms he exhibited.
To their dismay, Justin was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
A Frightening Challenge
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease affecting approximately
30,000 children and adults in the United States.
Because of the damage to the lungs and other organs,
most sufferers do not reach the age of 30.
Though devastated by Justin’s diagnosis, the Sabins
devoted themselves to learning all they could. Gary eventually
served as president of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
and has been responsible for raising millions of dollars
toward research. Valerie learned to administer the endless
round of treatments that take from two to four hours
each day. The Sabins had three more children: Spencer,
Jennifer, and Bryan. Spencer was spared the disease, but
both Jennifer and Bryan (now 16 years old with a milder
form of the disease) were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
The Sabins lived in constant expectation of a cure that
would save their children. A lung transplant offered a
chance to extend life, but Justin’s already weakened body
succumbed before he was able to undergo the operation.
On April 22, 1998, Justin died at home at the age of 19.
A bright, spiritual, positive young man with a sense of
humor, Justin was serving a mission at the San Diego
California Temple when he died. He was deeply mourned
by family and friends.
Just one year later, Jenny caught a cold that developed
into a dangerous bacterial infection. With deepening
dread, the Sabins watched as Jennifer’s health began to
decline, following the same pattern as her older brother.
There was one bright ray of hope on the horizon for
Jenny, a new procedure called a partial lobe transplant,
wherein two living donors each offer part of a lung. Lungs
are made up of a total of five lobes, three on the right side
and two under the heart. Doctors found that one lobe
from a larger, healthy individual can be substituted for the
damaged lung of a cystic fibrosis sufferer. Dr. Vaughn
Starnes, who pioneered this surgery at Stanford Medical
Center in northern California, agreed to try the procedure
on Jenny if appropriate donors could be found.
Time Was the Enemy
As Jennifer’s condition grew more critical, she gasped
and coughed continually. On oxygen 24 hours a day, she
was literally starving for air. The Sabin family underwent
testing to determine who could donate a lobe to Jenny, but
no family members had the needed qualifications. Quietly,
word went out to family and friends that donors were
needed. Within days more than 30 friends and acquaintances,
mostly members of the Poway California Stake
where the Sabins have lived for 20 years, volunteered to
be tested. At the hospital the donor coordinators were
shocked at the response.
ENSIGN OCTOBER 2006 21
ENSIGN OCTOBER 2006 21