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A medical team in New York City says it has performed the first complete surgical transplant of a windpipe. The trachea is basically a tube that transports air to and from the lungs, so you might think it would be easy to transplant. But not so. In fact, trachea transplants have been one of the last big challenges in this area of medicine. (Harris, 4/6)

Sonia Sein said she spent the last six years “trying to catch every breath at every moment” after extensive treatment for her severe asthma damaged her windpipe. She is breathing freely again after getting an unusual transplant. In January, doctors at New York’s Mount Sinai replaced her trachea, the tube that ferries air from the mouth to the lungs. (Renault and Ritzel, 4/6)

After years of struggling to breathe and fearing she might suffocate in her sleep, Sonia Sein says she feels well enough to dance around with her grandchildren after undergoing the first-ever human trachea transplant at Mount Sinai in New York. "For me, it felt like right after, I was able to breathe. When I took that first breath it was heaven," said Sein, who had the life-changing surgery in January. (Williams, 4/6)

The first successful direct transplant of a trachea is a medical milestone that could help thousands of people with airways damaged by ventilators and other causes. (Belluck, 4/6)