In the summer of 1997, doctors told 27-year-old cystic fibrosis patient Cami-Sue Clark she only had six months to live unless she received a double lung transplant. Her parents signed her up for the transplant at a medical center in Boston. But the average wait there was nearly two years, and Clark didn't have that much time.

Her father found a center in New Orleans with a shorter wait and got her name on the list there. As Clark's name gradually moved up the list, family and friends held benefits to raise money for travel expenses and the transplant. Clark was near the top of the waiting list when she died on July 30, 1998.

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