Tabitha Roemish of Coupeville has the itinerary of many other adventurous 25-year-olds. She has plans to travel to Germany, Israel and Turkey, and her mother, Norine Ellsworth, said she mentioned a snowboarding trip and joining a softball league.

The difference for Roemish is, three months ago, these plans weren’t a possibility.

At six-months-old, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a disease which affects the mucus glands of the lungs causing progressive disability, and for many in their 20s and 30s, lung failure.

Although periodical hospital visits took some time away from school, Roemish excelled as a teen. She became valedictorian, class president and a cheerleader at Coupeville High School.

Her college years were spent studying abroad in areas of Europe.

It was during a trip to Rome at the end of last year, that an infection attacked Roemish’s lungs. Her lung capacity was reduced to only 35 percent.

She was placed into a medically-induced coma at the University of Washington Medical Center and days later, her blood pressure sank dramatically.

Doctors said a double-lung transplant was vital. The surgery is a last resort for people with end-stage lung disease, and can greatly extend a patient’s life.

Test results showed that Roemish’s condition was stabilizing and she was soon removed from the coma and later, the hospital. She was placed on part-time oxygen.

Roemish, whose popularity still resonates in the community, saw an outpouring of support from her hometown. Students at Coupeville Elementary School sent cards to the hospital, and she received supportive messages from friends and former teachers on Carepages.com, a blogging Web site set up by her best friends.

“My friends are out of control cool for setting that up for me,” Roemish said. “It was a big help to my family.”

At her apartment in Seattle, Roemish waited for about three months, understanding that it could take years to become a recipient.

But on Feb. 6, the call came.

“She was watching the movie ‘Coraline’ with her friends at the time,” Ellsworth said.

She was rushed to the hospital by 4:30 p.m. and doctors tested her for the match. Part of the prepping included opening up Roemish’s chest.

“If the lungs had not been an exact match, they would have closed her up and she would go back on the waiting list,” friends Shelley Stansbury and Shannon Schulz wrote on www.carepages.com. “We were all hoping and praying that would not happen; that Tab would not have to go through all of this for nothing.”

At 1 a.m. Roemish was approved for the transplant. Doctors began the procedure, but soon made an alarming discovery.

“They found that she had a blood clot in her lung, which was shot into the new one,” Ellsworth said. “They put her back on bypass, and removed it. The doctor said that out of his 700 transplant surgeries, he had never seen that before. It had been a time bomb waiting to happen.”

The rest of the eight hour surgery was smooth, and Roemish was awakened at 6 a.m. to her friends and family.

Ellsworth said color has already returned to her daughter’s cheeks and she’s gained some weight back. Doctors say Roemish is at 60 percent lung capacity, and the number will continue to rise.

She was prescribed several medications and the breathing is easier. Before the surgery, Roemish was using a bipap machine at night, which forces air into the lungs.

“She doesn’t have to use the machine when she goes to bed anymore. It’s kind of a security blanket now and she’s weaning herself off of it,” Ellsworth said.

For the first year, the recipient survival rate is 90 percent. The number goes down each year, but Ellsworth said CF patients can have the transplant for over a decade, and then receive a new transplant.

Roemish’s recovery has been successful, and emotional. While she knows what a CF body feels like, she must figure out what it means to live with a healthy body.

“I tried to imagine what my life would be like after the transplant, and I couldn’t imagine it at all. It feels like I’ve started a new life,” Roemish said.

“She didn’t really think marriage and kids were in her future and now she thinks she’d like to do that,” Ellsworth said.

Friend Shannon Schulz of Oak Harbor said she noticed an immediate change in her personality.

“She sounds like a different person. She talks fast now,” Schulz said. “She basically sounds hyper all the time.”

An avid globetrotter, Roemish also plans to return to Rome, to finish the trip that was cut short by her infection.

She continues to add new goals.

“It’s just funny, I have so much time now,” Roemish said, while in recovery at her grandparent’s house. “I’m ready to go see the world.”

Tab needs your help

While in recovery, 25-year-old Tabitha Roemish is taking time off work and friends are rallying to help her come up with rent and food money. Shelley Stansbury and Shannon Schulz created a benevolent fund on Carepages.com, a blogging Web site about Roemish. People can make donations by visiting www.carepages.com, clicking on visit and typing in “tabbycat” into the search. Her mother, Norine Ellsworth, is also accepting donations at her workplace, at Oak Harbor’s Visions Hair Studio and Day Spa on 390 NE Midway Blvd. An additional donation account was created at Navy Federal, under the “Tabitha Recovery Fund.”