Shilpa's Story
Shilpa met her now husband at a friend’s wedding in Texas. They were both part of the bridal party, and while Shilpa was teaching the group the choreography for a wedding dance routine, he was more interested in distracting everyone with funny videos he’d found online. It is debated who contacted whom after the wedding, but there was an obvious spark, and when they reconnected, they hit it off right away. This year, they celebrated their own fifth wedding anniversary.
As she looks back on her life, Shilpa is often overwhelmed by how fortunate she has been. Sixteen years ago, she never imagined any of this was possible.
At 21, she was diagnosed with a type of cancer called Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her treatment successfully cured the cancer but badly damaged her lungs, and eventually, she was put on the waitlist for a transplant. After a year, with several calls for potential organ donations that didn’t end up working out, Shilpa finally received a double-lung transplant. Following a complicated recovery, she developed another lymphoma—but was lucky and got through it again.
During this period, Shilpa didn’t think about long-term plans. She was just thankful to be surrounded by supportive and loving family and friends. Shilpa talks about the village that helped her get through her pre- and post-transplant journey, and that over the course of many months in hospital, she never went a day without at least one or two visitors. “I never felt alone,” Shilpa says, which she recognizes is a rare experience for someone in her situation.
She wasn’t able to travel for many years when she was unwell, and the wedding in Texas was one of the first times she could fly after her transplant. “Meeting someone wasn’t even on my radar,” Shilpa reflects. But she is so grateful that she did meet her someone. “He’s such a wonderful person and the most supportive partner,” she says. He lived in New York at the time, but they travelled back and forth many weekends for three years to see each other, sometimes meeting in other cities or exploring national parks together.
This dramatic shift in her life trajectory was never lost on her. In the cab rides from the airport to his apartment in Manhattan, she couldn’t quite believe that only a few years earlier, she had spent months in the ICU unable to walk or breathe without the support of machines. And though the pandemic paused their plans, the two are hoping to expand their family, and are currently in the process of looking for a surrogate.
It’s a life Shilpa never imagined for herself, but it’s the life she gets to live because of her donor: “The little things like running for the bus, and big things like pursuing a career or getting married; I never forget that I wouldn’t be doing any of this without my donor.”
Most recently, Shilpa has developed kidney failure requiring dialysis, and is currently waiting for a kidney transplant. But she views this as a temporary setback and another challenge to work through. Her husband is also being assessed as a possible living donor, and while they still don’t know if he’s a match, it reminds her of how fortunate she continues to be: “My family and friends, my medical team, and my husband are the people that help keep me alive. But my donor and their family—they’re the reason I’m still here. The impact of that one person’s choice is transformative…and it’s a butterfly effect. Anything I do or accomplish is bigger than me.”
Already a successful epidemiologist, Shilpa continues to consider how she might do more to help others. And she does not hesitate to live: “I almost never say ‘no’ to anything. While my husband is fitter than I am, I usually have more energy and feel the need to squeeze every last drop of life out of everything. When all of your time feels so precious, every moment is priceless.”