Cheryl Mehrkar was an “adrenaline junkie” who relished being a scuba divemaster and riding her 2003 Harley-Davidson Sportster in North Carolina, Maine, and near her home in Dutchess County.
She had also achieved a fourth-degree karate black belt and dabbled in skydiving and bungee jumping. Now, Mehrkar has a new feat for her unusual résumé — she’s the world’s first recipient of a fully robotic double lung transplant.
“I’ve been in awe — it’s an unbelievable thing,” Mehrkar, 57, told The Post on Wednesday shortly after being discharged from NYU Langone Health.
Dr. Stephanie H. Chang, an associate professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, led the minimally invasive procedure on Oct. 22.
Chang made small incisions between Mehrkar’s ribs before employing the da Vinci Xi robotic system to remove her diseased lungs, prepare her heart and airway for implantation and sew in donor lungs.
“The benefits are really significantly smaller incisions, so better healing for the patient and less post-operative pain,” said Chang, surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program for the NYU Langone Transplant Institute.
The transplant institute performed 76 lung transplants in 2023.
Just a few months ago, Chang was lauded for leading the first fully robotic lung transplant in the nation, using the novel technique to replace a man’s right lung.
“It was a very huge milestone for us, but the reason why double-lung transplant is different is that’s what a majority of patients get,” Chang explained. “So we needed to improve the single technique where it was short enough and efficient enough for us to be able to do two [lungs] in a short setting without any damage to the new organs.”
After her procedure, which lasted about seven hours, Mehrkar marveled that she could take a “good breath” almost immediately.
“And it’s just gotten better,” Mehrkar gushed.
It’s a stark contrast from 15 years ago, when she noticed she was slightly short of breath while doing jumping jacks and sit-ups with her karate students at the dojo she co-owned with her husband.
Mehrkar was diagnosed in 2010 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which prompted her to quit smoking.
COPD describes a collection of conditions, like emphysema and chronic bronchitis, that damage the lungs and restrict airflow.
Mehrkar was later informed that she had an overactive thyroid, which caused her to lose “incredible amounts” of weight — but it wasn’t until she contracted COVID-19 in 2022 that “everything went downhill.”
She needed at-home oxygen therapy and her husband, Shahin, retired to become her caretaker. They closed their beloved dojo last year.
Mehrkar underwent surgery just days after being placed on the transplant list. She believes the robotic technique led to less pain and a shorter recovery time.
“It’s been such a positive, healthy experience,” she enthused.
Mehrkar doesn’t imagine she’ll be as adventurous as before, but she hopes to return to the activities she loves, including being a volunteer emergency medical technician with the Union Vale Fire Department in Dutchess County.
And she plans to write a letter to the family of the man who donated his lungs to her.
“I can only imagine the grieving that family went through while I was getting better,” Mehrkar said. “And I just need them to know that he’s living and he’s doing good, and I will do everything I can to take care of these lungs — and that’s a promise.”