Young Mom Needs Double Lung Transplant -- Grace White

A young mom with a rare disease is fighting for her life. Tonight, she's at University Hospital on the waiting list for a double lung transplant. Her family is sharing her story, hoping to save her life and many others.       "She is a beautiful woman. The most beautiful woman I know," said Alissa Madrigal, her sister. At 30-years-old Nicole DiMeo is in the fight of her life. "It's surreal. You never expect it to happen to you," said Jim DiMeo, her father."We maybe have a few more days we may have up to a few more weeks if we are lucky," said Madrigal. The single mom is on the waiting list for a double lung transplant. Her kids are ages 4 and 6. "They really don't know too much of what's going on, they just know their mom is in the hospital," said Madrigal. "This happened all of a sudden within a week she went from being the most active person you could see to not being able to breathe," said DiMeo. Nicole was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis shortly after birth. The rare genetic disease can lead to life-threatening lung infections. "Her disease has gotten to the point where she can not tolerate doing anything without the ventilator," said Dr. Debbie Levine, who is part of Nicole's medical team. "What we are waiting for is a lung donor, which can help her get off both the ventilator and get her back to her kids and her family who love her very much.""It's a double edged sword, because you never want to see somebody lose their life but through accidents or whatever the case maybe. We believe there will be somebody out there in the near future that can save her life," said DiMeo. According to the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, Nicole is one of 11,000 people waiting for a donor in Texas. "What we hope to do is educate people and let them know that there's an opportunity to give in a much different way not in money, not even in time," said DiMeo.Nicole's family hopes a donor can get this young mom back home, back to her kids and back to life. "My family we are strong in our faith and we just stick together and do the best that we can," said Madrigal.For more information on how to become an organ donor, click here. You can even sign up on Facebook.Posted by: Grace WhiteFollow Grace on Twitter @Grace__White and on Facebook