Cora Brittany Hill was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that usually ends with the deterioration of the lungs and death. She lived life as if she would live forever; she always planned and dreamed of her future. Cora pushed to graduate high school with her peers. In college, she studied nursing and was a volunteer cheer coach for ‘her’ girls who loved her dearly. She cherished the two dachshunds that the Make-A-Wish Foundation presented to her when she was 10 years old to keep her company during her many breathing treatments and when she was sick in bed.

On Christmas Eve 2007, 20-year-old Cora had a double lung transplant. She felt reborn spiritually as well as physically. Unfortunately, after 24 hospitalizations post-transplant and return to a ventilator, hope was lost that she could ever live without the ventilator and the pain that she suffered. She was too high-risk to transplant again.

“With her full adamant request, on Christmas Eve exactly two years after her transplant, Cora left behind two kidneys saving two lives,” said her mother, Dee. “Two families knew the joy of new life that Cora’s family had also experienced on the night that miracles happen.”

Cora and Dee set up the Live4Cora Foundation after Cora’s transplant to support organ donation and to assist with the needs of cystic fibrosis patients. Thru Donate Life, Cora’s family and friends speak often to share Cora’s story. To continue her cause and remember her, they do walks in her honor, ride bikes to appreciate what it must have been like to struggle to breathe, raise funds with some of the special clubs she enjoyed, and write stories about her and send her notes on FaceBook.

Dee said: “All of them miss the spirit that was Cora.”