Lung Transplant Recipient Who Married Donor's Brother Says Meeting His Family Was 'Bringing Her Back Home' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Travis and Jennifer Ellis on their wedding day.Photo:Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

Jennifer Ellis was born with the rare condition situs inversus, which means her organs are reversed — a condition that often impacts the lungsShe needed a lung transplant, and ended up bonding with the family of her lung donor, a healthcare manager named Jill EllisThis past September, she married Travis Ellis, Jill’s brotherMost transplant recipients don’t meet the family of their donor.“We kind of broke the rules,” Jennifer Ellis tells PEOPLE exclusively. When she first reached out to the family of the woman whose donated lungs she’d received, she says, “They got enough out of my letter to do a few Googles.”“When they Facebook messaged me, I was thrilled that they figured out who I was,” Jennifer, now 40, tells PEOPLE. “I wanted to meet them.”Nicole, listens to her late sister Jill’s donated lungs.Courtesy of Jennifer EllisAfter the family traveled to meet her in West Virginia, Jennifer flew to Wisconsin to meet the family of Jill Ellis, who died suddenly of abrain aneurysm— whose lungs she’d received at the Cleveland Clinic.“When I landed at her home, I was so overtaken with emotion,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was just like she was just glad to be home. I know that was her — like, I was bringing her back home.”“Definitely, she was with me,” says Jennifer — who had no idea she was in the early stages of getting to know herfuture husband: Jill’s brother Travis.“Her mom says, all the time, ‘I think Jill and God planned this.’ “Jennifer Ellis.Courtesy of Jennifer EllisAs she explains, “Jill was really always trying to hook him up with somebody. Every time they went out to a bar or anything, she would try to just hook him up with somebody constantly.”Jennifer’s road to a transplant started at birth. She was born withsitus inversus, a rare cognition that theCleveland Clinicexplains is when the “organs in your chest and belly develop in a reversed position of normal anatomy.”A complication of this isprimary ciliary dyskinesia, which impacts the “cilia, tiny hair-like organs that help your body clear mucus.”“I had multiple years of ear infections and pneumonias and asthma — just a lot of respiratory issues,” Jennifer tells PEOPLE.Eventually, the inevitability of a transplant came up.Jennifer Ellis and her father as she leaves the hospital.Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis“As a young 32-year-old, a lung transplant just sound like a death sentence to me,” she tells PEOPLE. “I just was terrified.”But in 2017, Jennifer had an Aspergillosis infection, which theCleveland Clinicexplains is a fungal infection that impacts people with weakened lungs or immune systems.“I was officially on oxygen 24/7 after that,” she says, adding, “I did not want to be hooked to machines. And, so I said, ‘OK, send me to Cleveland.’ “On Sept. 15, 2019, she had a lung transplant at the Cleveland Clinic. Afterwards, “they took the tube out and I can tell you it’s just like the biggest deep breath.”“Before when I would breathe, it was so shallow. When I had this breath, it was this deep breath … I felt like I was taking in air forever. “Jill Ellis.Courtesy of Jennifer EllisShe said her family told her, “Even my laugh sounded so different because of the amount of air I was able to take in.”When Jennifer finally reached out to Jill’s family,  “I wanted to do it in a special way. I actually reached out to all of my friends and my family and doctors and people that had been involved in my care prior to transplant. I wanted them to know that what Jill did was not just save my life, but save a best friend’s life, a daughter’s life and then a cousin.”“I wanted them how that my life meant something to so many people and that we were all very thankful for what she did.”And when she met the family, “it was an instant connection [like] I had known them my whole life. It was crazy.”Travis and Jennifer Ellis.Courtesy of Jennifer EllisJennifer tells PEOPLE the meeting was healing — for both her and Jill’s family. “We just instantly cried. But it was this sense of relief because I had a lot of survivor’s guilt and they were carrying a lot of grief.”“It was a very beautiful, powerful moment and from that moment on. We never stopped talking and I was a member of their family,” she says. Jill’s sister, Nikki, invited her to be in her wedding, and that’s when “Travis and I really became closer.”Less than a year after the wedding, in June of 2023, they decided to see if they could make a romance work. And this past Sept. 28, they tied the knot — and had a table honoring all those who couldn’t be with them at the wedding, including Jill.“We had a seat for her up front, in the front row, with her picture,” she says. “My dad is a pastor, so he included that we were forever grateful for Jill. She was included in the ceremony.”Travis and Jennifer Ellis honored Jill and others at their wedding.Courtesy of Jennifer EllisNever miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Also included: “A heroes table. It was the doctors that had made the most difference in my life or the nurses.”“The amount of things that had to happen for Travis and I to get together is actually unbelievable,” Jennifer tells PEOPLE. “I had to be born sick, I had to get sick when I did, I had to be listed when I did — I mean, it’s just unreal.”“I feel like our story is just so unique that there’s just no way [Jill] didn’t have a hand in it.”

Most transplant recipients don’t meet the family of their donor.

“We kind of broke the rules,” Jennifer Ellis tells PEOPLE exclusively. When she first reached out to the family of the woman whose donated lungs she’d received, she says, “They got enough out of my letter to do a few Googles.”

“When they Facebook messaged me, I was thrilled that they figured out who I was,” Jennifer, now 40, tells PEOPLE. “I wanted to meet them.”

Nicole, listens to her late sister Jill’s donated lungs.Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

After the family traveled to meet her in West Virginia, Jennifer flew to Wisconsin to meet the family of Jill Ellis, who died suddenly of abrain aneurysm— whose lungs she’d received at the Cleveland Clinic.

“When I landed at her home, I was so overtaken with emotion,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was just like she was just glad to be home. I know that was her — like, I was bringing her back home.”

“Definitely, she was with me,” says Jennifer — who had no idea she was in the early stages of getting to know herfuture husband: Jill’s brother Travis.

“Her mom says, all the time, ‘I think Jill and God planned this.’ “

Jennifer Ellis.Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

As she explains, “Jill was really always trying to hook him up with somebody. Every time they went out to a bar or anything, she would try to just hook him up with somebody constantly.”

Jennifer’s road to a transplant started at birth. She was born withsitus inversus, a rare cognition that theCleveland Clinicexplains is when the “organs in your chest and belly develop in a reversed position of normal anatomy.”

A complication of this isprimary ciliary dyskinesia, which impacts the “cilia, tiny hair-like organs that help your body clear mucus.”

“I had multiple years of ear infections and pneumonias and asthma — just a lot of respiratory issues,” Jennifer tells PEOPLE.

Eventually, the inevitability of a transplant came up.

Jennifer Ellis and her father as she leaves the hospital.Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

“As a young 32-year-old, a lung transplant just sound like a death sentence to me,” she tells PEOPLE. “I just was terrified.”

But in 2017, Jennifer had an Aspergillosis infection, which theCleveland Clinicexplains is a fungal infection that impacts people with weakened lungs or immune systems.

“I was officially on oxygen 24/7 after that,” she says, adding, “I did not want to be hooked to machines. And, so I said, ‘OK, send me to Cleveland.’ “

On Sept. 15, 2019, she had a lung transplant at the Cleveland Clinic. Afterwards, “they took the tube out and I can tell you it’s just like the biggest deep breath.”

“Before when I would breathe, it was so shallow. When I had this breath, it was this deep breath … I felt like I was taking in air forever. “

Jill Ellis.Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

She said her family told her, “Even my laugh sounded so different because of the amount of air I was able to take in.”

When Jennifer finally reached out to Jill’s family,  “I wanted to do it in a special way. I actually reached out to all of my friends and my family and doctors and people that had been involved in my care prior to transplant. I wanted them to know that what Jill did was not just save my life, but save a best friend’s life, a daughter’s life and then a cousin.”

“I wanted them how that my life meant something to so many people and that we were all very thankful for what she did.”

And when she met the family, “it was an instant connection [like] I had known them my whole life. It was crazy.”

Travis and Jennifer Ellis.Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

Jennifer tells PEOPLE the meeting was healing — for both her and Jill’s family. “We just instantly cried. But it was this sense of relief because I had a lot of survivor’s guilt and they were carrying a lot of grief.”

“It was a very beautiful, powerful moment and from that moment on. We never stopped talking and I was a member of their family,” she says. Jill’s sister, Nikki, invited her to be in her wedding, and that’s when “Travis and I really became closer.”

Less than a year after the wedding, in June of 2023, they decided to see if they could make a romance work. And this past Sept. 28, they tied the knot — and had a table honoring all those who couldn’t be with them at the wedding, including Jill.

“We had a seat for her up front, in the front row, with her picture,” she says. “My dad is a pastor, so he included that we were forever grateful for Jill. She was included in the ceremony.”

Travis and Jennifer Ellis honored Jill and others at their wedding.Courtesy of Jennifer Ellis

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Also included: “A heroes table. It was the doctors that had made the most difference in my life or the nurses.”

“The amount of things that had to happen for Travis and I to get together is actually unbelievable,” Jennifer tells PEOPLE. “I had to be born sick, I had to get sick when I did, I had to be listed when I did — I mean, it’s just unreal.”

“I feel like our story is just so unique that there’s just no way [Jill] didn’t have a hand in it.”

source: people.com