DENVER — As UCHealth celebrates 10,000 transplants, one of its patients—Jeremiah Penny—embodies the life‑changing power of organ donation. He is living proof that we shouldn’t take even the smallest things in life for granted.
“At 45 I was diagnosed officially with end-stage COPD heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, you know, all the things that come along with really bad lungs,” he described.
With those “really bad lungs,” daily life changed drastically for Penny—making even simple tasks painful.
“I couldn't even walk up my stairs at my house. When I would take a shower, I would constantly be in fear of drowning, because I wouldn't have enough air to stand there and wash my hair,” he said.
Even sleeping or getting out of bed—everything was hard work.
With only weeks to live, he received a gift from a complete stranger that completely turned his life around.
“I had one foot in the grave,” Penny remembered.
In December of 2024, Penny says, his Christmas gift came early.
After being on the transplant list for just three days—which Penny says is unheard of—he was given the gift of life.
“I went into the operating room the morning of the 23rd. I came out about eight hours later with new lungs and basically able to breathe again,” he said. “Before my transplant, I was on five liters a minute. I had a hard time even walking up the stairs at my house. And now I'm at the point where I'm hiking 14ers”.
Penny remembers his donor as "a loving father, husband, and grandfather". Adding that he knows he's doing him some justice, carrying his lungs.
Penny’s lifesaving double lung transplant is not only changing his life, but also affecting those close to the donor.
“This brought a new life for me as well,” said Diana Remick, whose husband now lives on in Jeremiah.
“My husband was such a good, giving man,” she said. “We were able to have that opportunity, that conversation before he passed away, just A random conversation when we got our license renewed, that he wanted to be a donor."
Remick said she missed out on her Christmas miracle after losing her husband, but was able to pass it on to others.
“We had just decided that we needed to honor his wishes, because if we weren't going to get our Christmas miracle, we were going to be able to give that to other people,” Remick said.
She shared that her husband always said you could continue your legacy after life by how you made people feel, adding, “I really believe we can continue to help people, and his message would be: keep giving, keep helping others.”
The idea of giving others a miracle and helping others is a message Jeremiah’s doctors at the UC Health Transplant Center are trying to emphasize.
The center is celebrating a huge milestone: reaching 10,000 transplants in 2025. Among these transplants, they marked their 1,000th lung transplant, 1,000th heart transplant, 1,000th kidney transplant, and 3,000th liver transplant.
Dr. Alice Gray, the Medical Director of the lung transplant program at the University of Colorado Hospital, was with Jeremiah as he went through the process of receiving new lungs.
When they're done with the surgery, they call us, and we meet the patients back in the intensive care unit right when they come out of the operating room, and we're there with them from that moment for the rest of their lives,” Gray described.
She says the patients and doctors become family because of all the time they spend together.
“You get to see people in really bad shape, and then you get to see them regain their life and be able to have all of the wonderful experiences that we get to have as human beings on earth,” she added.
► Watch Jeremiah Penny's journey from 'one foot in the grave' to hiking 14ers in the player below
She recalls Penny’s journey was not easy, but notes, “With time and a lot of work, he got better, he got stronger, he got healthier, and he got off oxygen. Since then, it's been miraculous to see him get back to things he hasn't done in years.”
“What I'm trying to deliver is that there is a decent life after lung transplantation,” said Penny.
“If you're considering getting a lung transplant, it's no walk in the park, but if you put in the work, you can have a great life. I mean, I'm living proof of that,” Penny emphasized.
With his new lungs, Penny is able to return to what he loves, like hiking.
And he makes sure to take his donor along for his many adventures.
"We just got back from California, where we did some hiking and saw the Golden Gate Bridge,” he said.
And his eyes were already set on his next journey.
“My wife and I were planning on hiking Mount Albert—our favorite 14er,” Penny said excitedly. “It's a little less traveled than Mount Bierstadt, which is the one we did. It's a bit more gradual and easier on the knees. So that will be my next."
Penny and Remick finally met in person on Thursday, after communicating back and forth.
“We started emailing each other. I would check in with her now and then, sending pictures—like when I hiked my first 14er after my surgery—or just letting her know I wake up every day grateful for what Billy did and sacrificed for me. I want her to know that will never change,” Penny said.
April is also National Donate Life Month, and Remick says that after this experience, the month has a whole new meaning.
“I just really encourage others, if they're comfortable with it, to check the box to save lives, to help others”.
Remick says they have hosted 28 different events in the past year and a half in honor of her husband, keeping his legacy of giving alive.
Penny and Remick both hope that sharing their story inspires more people to give the gift of life and carry hope forward.
