Identity and Uncertainty: Life after a Lung Transplant

Lange discusses identity formation in people who have received a donor organ, taking cystic fibrosis patients with lung transplants as an example. Two narrative interviews form the basis of this analysis. They allow Lange to trace the processes and the turning points in the lives of concrete individuals with cystic fibrosis. These people's changing identity and their chronic awareness of their own mortality makes them constantly doubt their decision and they are always learning to live with the stigma of an incurable disease. Their stories not only allow us a glimpse into living with cystic fibrosis, but they also show intertwined feelings of gratitude, anger and helplessness in the face of the disease, the bureaucracy, political shifts and more.