The Ledger

By Becky Holland

For most people, breathing is something they never think about.

For Melissa Laney, it became everything.

Laney, 38, a bookkeeper at Bleckley County Primary School, is known as someone who works quietly behind the scenes. A helper by nature, she started at the school as a paraprofessional before stepping into bookkeeping nearly 10 years ago.

“I just like helping people,” she said.

A wife, a mother, and an active member of Christ Chapel of Cochran, Laney never sought attention. But in 2021, her life changed in a way she never could have imagined.

It started with COVID.

“My husband got sick, and a few days later I did,” she said. “And then one morning I woke up and couldn’t breathe—and I couldn’t walk. I had to crawl to find my husband to take me to the ER.”

She was first admitted to Dodge County Hospital in Eastman before being transported to Gwinnett County in Atlanta. Eventually, she was taken to Tampa, where doctors determined she would need a double lung transplant to survive.

Much of that time is a blur.

“The last thing I remember about Dodge County was being told I was having a heart attack,” she said.

After that, weeks turned into months of machines, sedation, and uncertainty.

When she learned she would need a double lung transplant, the weight of it all was overwhelming.

“It was kind of scary,” Laney said. “I found out everything I used to do I wasn’t going to be able to do. There were foods I couldn’t eat… my whole life had to change.”

At one point, she reached a breaking place.

“I was just too tired to fight anymore,” she said.

But then something changed.

Her mother had briefly come home to be with family when the hospital called her back. Before returning, Laney’s son Matthew—just in second grade at the time—made her a picture.

It was simple. Butterflies. Flowers. And a message written in a child’s hand:

“Dear Momma, I miss you. I wish you would come home. I love you.”

“When I saw that… something in me just changed,” Laney said. “I knew I had to fight—to come home to him, to my family, to all the people who had been praying for me.”

And she did.

Today, Laney is back home in Bleckley County—back with her husband, her now 13-year-old son, and the life she fought so hard to return to.

This November 2 will mark five years since Laney received her double lung transplant—a milestone that once felt uncertain, but now stands as a reminder of how far she’s come.

She says the experience deepened her faith and gave her a new perspective.

“I’ve always been a giver and a helper,” she said. “But this strengthened my faith in God and in the power of prayer.”

If she could go back and speak to her younger self, her message would be simple:

“Appreciate the little things… the little moments. It could all be gone in a second. And have a strong relationship with God.”

She paused, then added:

“I wish I had started a little younger in my relationship with Him. But nonetheless, I did—and I’m here.

Laney hopes her story might help someone else hold on when life feels overwhelming.

And if there’s one thing she knows now, it’s this:

Every breath is a gift.

Photos from the Laney Family