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Sunday, March 8, 2009
Lung transplant patient Jessica Paringer loses her fight against cystic fibrosis
Jessica Paringer, the co-owner of Cuvee Wine Bar & Cellar in Bellbrook who received a double-lung transplant Feb. 13, died Sunday afternoon, March 8, at the Cleveland Clinic. She was 36.
“She died peacefully, her husband was with her, and she was not in any pain,” said Cindy Hill, a close friend who hired Paringer to work in the wine shop Hill founded as Cindy’s Wine Cellar, and later sold it to Paringer and Paringer’s husband, Chris Cavender.
Paringer suffered from cystic fibrosis, an inherited, chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. The disease often causes death in the patients’ 20s or 30s.
Paringer was not diagnosed until she was in her teens, and was active in operating the wine shop until recent months, when the disease began taking an increasing toll on her, and she was placed on a lung transplant list.
On Friday, Feb. 6, she suffered a serious setback and nearly died. She was flown by a care-flight medical helicopter from Dayton to the Cleveland Clinic, where doctors stabilized her. Clinic officials then told her that a pair of donor lungs had become available, and on Feb. 13, in an operation that lasted nine hours, she received a new set of lungs, Cavender said in the days following the surgery.
Doctors initially were pleased with how the surgery went, but Paringer’s progress was slowed by how weak she had become in the weeks and months prior to the surgery, Cavender said. In addition, drugs used to prevent rejection of transplanted lungs can leave patients susceptible to infections and can have other serious side-effects, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Other Cuvee employees and friends of Paringer’s — including Hill — have been pitching in to help run the wine shop in Cavender’s and Paringer’s absence.
Services are pending, but Hill said the wine shop will be open Tuesday for those who wish to stop by and share memories and condolences.
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