WALTHAM -- The morning of her 25th birthday, Amber Wesemann opened her eyes, rolled over and said to her longtime boyfriend, "I made it."
When she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age 3, doctors in Oregon told Wesemann's parents their daughter would only live to be a teenager.
"I'm taking it day by day. It's kind of scary," said Wesemann, a Waltham resident who is on the list for a lung transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Wesemann has Type B blood and is waiting for living donors, two people with healthy lungs who are willing to each give up one-fifth of a lung. Her name is one of the top five on the hospital's list, though she does not know what number she is.
Her boyfriend, Steve Marsh, said there are five potential donors now, though doctors are not sure if they will be a good match for Wesemann. A good match does not necessarily mean a transplant will be successful, he said.
Marsh said the donors' names are confidential, but they can choose to contact Wesemann. Her body may also reject the organs.
The potential donors have yet to be tested so others are encouraged to contact Wesemann.
"She's definitely an inspiration to me," said Marsh, a Maine native who now lives in Waltham with Wesemann. "She's a nanny, and she's going strong every day."
The couple met when Wesemann was a freshman in high school in Maine and Marsh was a senior. Marsh, 27, said the couple reconnected five years later and have been dating since the summer of '99.
"She's very strong. Some days are better than others. I get to see the others," Marsh said.
A fund-raiser to help raise money to support Wesemann's donors during the transplant process and recovery will be held at Spinelli's in Lynnfield on Friday, April 1. The fund-raiser will include a live and silent auction and a raffle.
Wesemann, a Framingham State College graduate, said her insurance will cover most of her medical expenses, but some of the money raised will be used to pay for some unpaid medical bills. Wesemann's friends and family have also held other fund-raisers for Amber. More than $31,000 has been raised in the past three years.
"She lives a pretty active life, which is awesome. She wants to make the most of her time," Marsh said of his longtime love. "It's made me grow up a lot."
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus due to the faulty transport of sodium within cells lining the lungs and pancreas. The thick mucus disrupts food digestion.
Common symptoms of cystic fibrosis are very salty tasting skin, persistent coughing, wheezing or pneumonia and excessive appetite but poor weight gain.
Wesemann said there is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but a lung transplant will likely prolong her life. She said people with cystic fibrosis can live well into their 50s.
Wesemann lost her close friend Sarah to the disease three years ago, about a year after a transplant. She was 20.
"Throughout this journey I never asked myself why," Wesemann wrote on her Web site. "I always accepted the disease as part of who I am."
