There's a new medical innovation that is changing the fate of patients who need a new lung. Twenty-percent of people needing a lung transplant will die waiting for one. Unlike damaged kidneys or hearts, doctors say it's very difficult to keep injured lungs working long enough to get a transplant.

Onyen Tran is lucky to be alive. Last December, she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension.

"I would say it was like drowning without water," said Onyen.

She was 20 years old, had three kids and was planning her own funeral.

---

READ: Artificial Lung Saves Lives

---

"It was difficult doing it," she said, "But I was not expecting to live."

Pulmonary hypertension constricts vessels that lead to the lungs, making it nearly impossible for the heart to get oxygen-rich blood to the lungs.

"Many patients die of this disease, and it can be quite rapidly progressive," said thoracic surgeon Dr. Tom Waddell.

A lung transplant can help, but many die before they get one. Yen was in the ICU waiting for a new lung when her heart stopped.

"If the physicians had stopped compressing her chest, she was dead," said Dr. Waddell.

Yen was kept alive with this new artificial lung called the Novalung. She was the first person in North America to get it.

"It doesn't require the use of a mechanical pump. That is the truly unique thing about that," said Dr. Waddell.

The patient's own heart pumps blood up a tube and into an oxygenator. There, the blood is filled with oxygen and returned to the body.

"In general, the results have been quite good for a group of patients that ultimately would face certain death," said Dr. Waddell.

The Novalung bought Yen time until a donor lung was found.

"If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here today," said Yen. "My kids wouldn't have a mom."

The Novalung can keep patients alive long enough to get a lung transplant. It has been used in patients in Toronto, and Germany and also on several U.S. soldiers in Iraq.