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May 9, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:25
Kelly Rowland & Inspiring Moms: Dr. Oz Mother’s Day Special | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 168 | Full Episode
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Time Text
A special Mother's Day event.
Kelly Rowland is here to prove just what a survivor she is.
From the joy of becoming a mom.
Moments of me actually catching poo in my hands.
And how she lost the baby weight.
For me, it is not about being skinny.
I just want to feel good.
Plus, wheelhouse wife of New Jersey, Jacqueline Loretta, fights back against her autistic son's haters.
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
Thank you very much, Rob.
Welcome to the show.
Kelly Rowland is music royalty.
First as part of Destiny's Child, now as a successful solo artist.
But recently, in a period of just seven months, Kelly experienced both the joy of marriage and motherhood and the tragic sudden death of her beloved mother.
Today, Kelly Rowland is here to prove just what a survivor she is.
Kelly, come on out.
Oh, my God.
Thank you for coming.
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Hi, everybody!
So you recently did something that's got a lot of people talking.
And it's raised a very, very big question.
Is there a possibility of a Destiny's Child reunion or just a one-off event that you did?
You know, it was a one-off event.
Michelle had this incredible record called Say Yes.
If you don't have it, you should definitely download it.
I have it.
I have it.
It's amazing.
And she asked myself and Beyonce to get on the record.
It was just as simple as that.
And there you go.
A reunion happened.
It was very easy.
Well, you look at Kelly and she has that incredible new mother glow.
Oh, thank you.
Just posed for a wonderful cover for the Essence magazine.
And these photos, I'm going to show them to you, they're unbelievable.
Thank you!
Is motherhood everything you dreamed it would be?
Yes, I mean...
It's such a beautiful thing because we have the most beautiful moments where...
I mean, Titan is a cute child.
He's a cute kid.
Does he have an agent yet?
You know, he doesn't.
But I have amazing moments, like, of course, when he's waking up, we get to smell him.
He smells so good, too.
Moments of me actually catching poo in my hands.
So it's been some really ups and downs and just some messes at times, but it's fun.
So I understand you sing him to sleep.
So if you're a Grammy award-winning artist, what...
What do you sing to your child?
There's a song that I recorded called "Mama's Little Baby," and I just simply say to him, "You will always be Mommy's little baby." It's really sweet.
I mean, it's perfect.
The lyrics are ideal.
Yeah, it's really sweet.
What surprised you the most about Mother?
You're six months into the experience.
Let me see.
I think what surprised me is probably how fast he's growing.
I mean, literally in the morning, he's like this size, and when I get back, he's this size.
I'm like, what are you going to do today?
And I think the hardest is really trying to balance being a wife, being a mom, and having your job and your occupation at the same time.
Like, you want to do everything, and you want to do everything great.
Y 'all understand, don't you, Lee?
I do.
So I just, I just, I always want to do that right, but I always want to have my sanity at the end of the day as well.
You know, there's an interesting balancing act, not just between ourselves and our children, but in our relationships.
Yes, yes.
And I have this conversation with my wife all the time about who's more important, the babies or the spouse?
Oh, y 'all are.
I think the relationship with your partner is the most important relationship.
I mean, that's how the baby got here.
That's right.
So I think that's the most important relationship to have, and that's the way I've ordered mine.
So it's my husband, my baby, my career, and that's exactly how it goes in my household.
There's something we don't talk about much, but I know that it hurts relationships sometimes, ironically, because you fall in with the baby, and of course the baby's very demanding for time.
What?
What, huh?
What?
Yes.
Of all the things you do, one of the most impressive to me is that you maintain such an incredible body.
You're able to lose baby fat as you have done.
You have 70 pounds, is that right?
Almost, almost.
I'm a work in progress.
I am a work in progress.
You know what?
It took a lot of dedication.
And for me, it is not about being skinny.
I just want to feel good.
If I feel like I look cute in this dress or this great pair of pants, then that's what I like.
I like to feel good.
I feel like it radiates all over who we are.
And I just want to feel good.
Well, it's the right motivation.
Thank you.
Because if you aim at that, you actually have a goal that you can meet.
But you still have to do things to get there.
Well, I mean, I had to work out.
I did a lot of cardio.
I did spinning.
I practice this 80-20 rule where like 80% of the time I'm eating foods that like, you know, really give me nourishment and give me energy for my workouts because I can't lie, I will do two workouts a day.
I go a little ham.
And the other 20%, I love chocolate and I love wine.
So that's my 20 and I'm...
You clapped on that!
That's how I approach it.
You're so serious about motherhood.
You actually became a spokesperson for a baby fabric detergent.
I would love if you got a little footage on this.
Describe what it is to everybody.
It's the Draft campaign.
I just love the fact that I wanted Titan to feel really safe when he came home.
I remember smelling my girlfriend's baby.
I was like, I want my baby to smell good.
She told me about Draft.
I started using Draft.
I love the fact that it wasn't going to mess his skin up.
It was hypoallergenic.
A pediatrician told me about it.
And now we're in this, because they have this whole, like, phases.
And I'm on Draft Active Baby, because Titan's learning his first meals.
It's so exciting.
Already?
Yes.
Of course, it's six months.
You should.
Yes, so he's having his first meals.
He's crawling around everywhere.
And the Draft Active Baby just completely, 99% of the time, just gets all those little stains out.
So it's been awesome.
Let me shift gears.
Yeah.
A lot of happy things in your life.
Yes.
Titan, obviously.
Yes.
But you lost your mother.
Yes.
It was sudden.
Yes.
Cardiac arrest, which means the heart just stops beating.
Yes.
Was it expected at all?
No, it's so weird.
It was the strangest phone call because I remember just putting Titan to sleep and then him waking up maybe a couple hours before and then we got this phone call and it never was on our radar anything about her heart or cardiac arrest anything like that and next thing I know we're rushing to Atlanta and I literally get there and I realize that I lost my mother.
So immediately after that I'm thinking, what happened?
You know, what led to all these events for this to happen?
And it was just a surprise.
And it was a surprise to the doctors, a surprise to us all.
How do you make sense of that when so much of who you are is taken from you?
Yeah, you know what?
The first thing I did was, of course, I'm still grieving, to be completely honest.
And I think that every time I look at Titan, sometimes he's looking over my head and I'm thinking that my mother's around us some way or another.
But also, I went to go have a physical because I wanted to know if that is, you know, passed down through generations.
I had no...
No education about it.
So I just wanted to be knowledgeable about it.
Most of us don't know your mom.
Describe her for those of us who would love to know more.
She is...
A light.
And we'll literally come in here and cook everybody a meal.
And make sure that everybody is happy and say a prayer with you.
Just the sweetest, the sweetest, sweetest person.
And there are moments where I just wish she was right there next to me.
And I know she is in spirit, but it definitely still hits home.
She got to meet Titan.
Yes, she did.
Did she give you any mothering advice?
I remember feeding Titan.
And she just comes over my shoulder and says, "You know what you're doing." And I was like, "I took all the classes, Ma.
I think I know what I'm doing." And she's like, "A class." She said, that's just stuff you just learn.
But anyways, I remember sitting there and she watched everything that I was doing and how I was just, you know, with tightness.
She said, I'm just so proud of you.
And it just meant the world to me because that's all you want your parents to do is just love you and be proud of you.
It is the goal, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
Paying back and making it happen.
Crazy as it is, her legacy.
Besides maybe saving your life because she got you to check yourself out, will be to change the lives of lots of other folks who now are going to think, you know what, healthy, she was 65, 66. Yes, yes.
A healthy young woman.
Yes.
Suddenly he's gone.
Yes.
And is there anything I can do to make sure it doesn't happen to me?
Absolutely.
I think it's important for all of us to know exactly what's going on with our hearts and get physicals and just know what's going on with our body as a whole.
I really enjoyed meeting you.
You too.
God bless you.
Good luck to you.
Thank you.
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
Coming up next, we're celebrating mothers with a courageous mom on a mission to fight back, to protect her innocent autistic son from cyberbullying.
Her heartfelt and moving open letter will change how you think about autism for good.
Coming up next.
Women who lost half their body weight.
Transformation is so amazing.
You have to see it to believe it.
If you think you can't lose weight, think again.
How they did it so you can too.
Plus, rip a page from Lala Anthony's power playbook.
You can be great at more than one thing.
How she went from the bottom to the top.
Lala sharing her rules.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
Monday.
Today's show is all about moms, and our studio audience is filled with mothers and daughters.
Let me hear you guys.
They are one more beautiful than the next.
I love when beautiful women bring up other beautiful women.
I'm very proud that you are all here.
So Jacqueline Loretta is a courageous mom, and she's on a mission.
She's fighting back to protect her innocent autistic son from cyberbullying.
How far would you go to protect your child from the pain of bullying?
I love you.
Jacqueline Lurita had to face that question head-on when she came upon a shockingly mean-spirited Facebook post demeaning autistic children and their parents.
That post hit especially close to home because Lurita's youngest son, Nicholas, was diagnosed with autism when he was two years old.
So cute!
Now five, Nicholas has come a long way with the love of his family and the help of diet and therapy.
Today, Jacqueline speaks out about the joys and challenges...
Nick, get up!
...raising her beloved son, Nicholas.
And she confronts the cyber-bully who attacked not just her son, but all families raising children with autism.
Bye!
Bye!
I'm so sorry.
Jacqueline's doing it.
You don't have to be sorry.
I know it's hard to have these conversations.
So Nicholas is five.
Yes.
So beautiful.
So young.
To already be, in a very shocking way, bullied.
Yeah, I mean, anytime a parent sees their child struggle or hurting over something, you're going to hurt.
It's a ripple effect.
And what people need to understand is that children with autism, they face many challenges every single day.
And every day, they work really hard to overcome those challenges.
So the last thing they need is for someone to...
You know, make mean-spirited comments, you know, because they don't understand differences of others.
You know, people that are different from themselves.
If I can, I'm going to share the post.
You described it as mean and ignorant.
I think it's pretty accurate.
So here's what was said.
Why do people give birth to autistic kids?
Waste of society's resources.
Right.
So what went through your mind when you saw that posted?
I was angry.
I mean, you're talking about my child, for one of many.
I just couldn't believe someone could be so cruel and mean-spirited, really disregarding the life or value of another human being.
So to me, I just was really taken aback.
And then I was sad because I realized there's people out there that feel this way that my son's going to have to face one day, and he's going to have to...
To cope with that.
So you did something about it.
A lot of us sit there and stew and are frustrated, but you actually wrote a letter.
And this letter that Jacqueline wrote is getting a lot of attention.
Would you mind reading part of it?
A part of it?
It's very beautifully done.
You don't have to read the whole thing.
Right.
Okay, so I said, why do people give birth to autistic kids?
Let me educate you.
There is no medical detection or prenatal test to tell you that your child will be born with autism.
Even if I had known about my son's autism prior to his birth, I would still have chosen to give him life.
I went through five miscarriages to finally give birth to what I consider my miracle child.
I couldn't wait to hold him in my arms, look into his eyes and love him forever.
He is worth every resource that will help bring out the best individual he can be.
He is worth every skill we can teach him so that we may make his life a little easier in the future.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Protecting our children, your son.
There are emotional issues.
What do you hope people will take from your letter?
I, you know, one in 68 children are diagnosed with autism today.
And that number is rapidly growing.
And these children cannot control the way their brain functions.
It's different, but not less.
And I think that, you know, instead of bullying, Have some compassion.
Try to...
If you don't understand something, educate yourself.
And try to understand it.
Try to help.
And if you're not going to help, at least don't hurt.
So I felt very passionately about this as well.
Our team started to look for how this happened.
The bullying Facebook post was removed shortly after it first appeared, as you know.
But we did some digging.
We found the woman that we believe to have posted it.
Now, we're not going to use her name because she says her account was hacked and the post was made by somebody else.
She tells us, and I'll quote her, I do not have any dislike of people with disabilities.
I'm just an ordinary citizen trying to live my life in peace.
So either she's learned or she's learning or maybe it wasn't her at all.
But give us some hope in this issue.
What do you hope folks will take away from this?
You've been through the bullying.
Many of us have experienced it in different ways.
How can kids who are suffering from autism and the millions who are afflicted because they're their families or love them dearly, how do they react?
What should they take away from this story?
You know, when you see a child having a meltdown in public, because children on the spectrum, they become very frustrated because they can't communicate the way they want to.
It's hard for them to express their emotions and control their emotions.
And, you know, with that comes meltdowns.
And sometimes these meltdowns happen in public.
And people look and they stare and they make comments about the child or the parent.
And instead of...
Saying something mean-spirited, you know, and escalating a situation that's already uncomfortable, you know, just even a look from somebody to say, you know, I understand, I get it, and, you know, don't worry about it, you know, carry on, you know.
I'm so happy you wrote the letter.
I thank you for sticking up because it's a role model for the rest of us.
Thank you.
The issue for me comes down to one little boy, Nicholas.
And the millions of other kids with autism who deserve our love, respect, and compassion.
Remember, whether you're saying things to friends or posting things online for the whole world to see, your words matter.
We'll be right back.
Have a health question?
Ask on DrOz.com and get answers directly from Dr. Oz and his team of experts.
No question is off limits.
you you Coming up next, a daughter wants to give back to her hard-working mother who spends all of her time helping others, always putting herself last.
This deserving mom needs some TLC.
Yeah, come on out!
A Mother's Day surprise, coming up next.
All new odds, women who've lost half their body weight.
Transformation is so amazing, you have to see it to believe it.
If you think you can't lose weight, think again.
How they did it so you can't do.
Plus, rip a page from Lala Anthony's power playbook.
You can be great at more than one thing.
How she went from the bottom to the top.
Lala sharing her rules.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
For many of us, including me, mothers are simply heroic.
And I love having you all here to celebrate you.
Let me give you a hand again.
I love having all the moms.
It's often hard to find the words to describe a mother's love and then thank them for all they do.
That's why when I received this letter from Emily about her extraordinary mom, I wanted to help.
Take a look.
My mom, Gail, has had to endure more than anyone should have to in their entire lifetime.
I'm a middle child and I was born into a family with an older sister, Julia, and a younger brother, Christian.
Both of my siblings were born with cystic fibrosis, a horrible, life-threatening disease, and my mom took care of them every day.
My sister had to go through two double lung transplants.
In 2011, she succumbed to the disease and passed away.
My little brother is only 22 and still fighting the disease.
My mom still takes care of him every day.
In addition to this, she has worked as a nurse for 35 years to support the family.
Again, spending all of her additional time caring for others.
She's got back problems, arthritis, COPD.
The physical labor, the stress, the long hours and shifts.
It's definitely taken a toll on her health.
I'd love to give her the recognition she deserves and truly thank her for giving up her life and sometimes sanity, caring for myself and my siblings.
Gail's daughter, Emily, is here.
What do you love the most about your mom?
Well, you know, my mom is so caring and she's done so much for my siblings throughout the years and for myself.
Even now, she's helped me to live out my dreams.
I'm an entrepreneur, and she's been such a driving force behind me pursuing that.
I know a lot of parents don't like that.
She shows her love, as most moms do.
So why is it so important for you to surprise her today?
I just want to give her a day of recognition for her.
And what can I help you with?
What's the surprise going to be?
What do you want to do to make her life different?
I'd love to give her a makeover.
You know, she doesn't really ever treat herself.
She shops at thrift stores.
Where's my brother's hand-me-downs?
Where's your brother's hand-me-downs?
Yeah, she'd rather give the resources, you know, to other things.
Alright, so since Gail always puts herself last, we wanted to help surprise her and give her a day where she puts herself first.
And this is a remarkable, remarkable transformation.
Take a look.
Gail thinks she's keeping her daughter company on a business trip in New York City.
Little does she know what we have planned for her.
I have a very special surprise for you.
A message from someone very special.
Hey Gail, Dr. Oz here.
Your daughter Emily enlisted my help to surprise you.
She told me how you're always putting everyone else first.
So today, it's time that we take care of you by giving you a full day of pampering and beauty.
Pretty overwhelmed.
Thank you, Dr. Oz.
And the only reason I'm here is because I've got wonderful children.
Good luck.
Bye, mom.
Have fun.
Thank you.
First up, the spa treatment at V&V Skin Specialist Poutine.
Then Gail heads over to Nunzio Saviano's salon for hair and makeup.
Hi, Gail.
My name is Nunzio.
Welcome to my salon.
We're going to make you look great.
Okay, now we're going to start with your color.
Now we're ready for some highlights.
Go for it.
So we're gonna give you a cut that is gonna make you look great.
We're going to get started with makeup.
Gail, do you want to see how you look?
Yes, please.
All right, here we go.
You guys ready to see Gail?
You happy?
A full day of pampering.
Are you ready to see her?
Yes!
I am.
Gail, come on out.
Oh, I gotta give you a hug.
I gotta give you a hug.
How are you?
How are you?
How does it feel that finally, after doing things for everybody else all the time, to have a full day of pampering?
Well, first of all, I only wear my brother's t-shirts when I heard that.
Overwhelming.
I can't put in words.
It's just been overwhelming.
I can't believe that all this has happened.
In such a short frame of time.
And I'm very grateful.
Oh, please don't.
We're grateful for you.
Emily, anything about your mom?
She looks great.
And she did this.
And that's what's even more moving is that she did this.
So thank you.
Did you have any idea, any idea, Gail, that your daughter was worrying this much about you?
No, I always said I was fine as long as I can go out for a coffee or go to the library or go for a walk.
No, sir, I didn't.
I really didn't.
Well, you know, I was taught this by a gentleman when I was a younger parent, and he said, always remember your kids aren't going to treat themselves the way you treat them.
They can treat themselves the way you treat yourself.
So for all the moms out there, if you want her to be as beautiful and helping as you are, make sure you're taking care of yourself as well.
God bless you for all you do for your family.
Thank you, sir.
Now, I want to thank all the moms out there.
An official thank you to my mom.
Mom, I really am sorry.
I made you tired all the time.
There is a very bad little boy.
She's always watching us in turkeys.
I love you, Mom.
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
Coming up next, have you been trying to save up for that something special?
A new dress?
A family vacation?
But you still need to make ends meet?
In honor of Mother's Day, we're revealing mom's best-kept money-saving secrets to put money back into your pocket.
Coming up next.
All new odds.
Women who've lost half their body weight.
Transformation is so amazing, you have to see it to believe it.
If you think you can't lose weight, think again.
How they did it, so you can too.
Plus, rip a page from Lala Anthony's power playbook.
You can be great at more than one thing.
How she went from the bottom to the top.
Lala sharing her rules.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
We're back celebrating our moms and today I'm sharing mom's best kept money saving secrets.
They're all brand new and they only made the grade.
Because they've been road tested by a mom.
Our first secret comes from mom who says she tricks herself into saving money.
So this is the basic concept.
How many of you have tossed 13 into a jar like this?
Let me see your show of hands.
All the moms have.
So Frances says she came up with something even better.
So what is your money-saving secret?
Well, growing up as a child, we didn't have allowance.
So we used to kind of save all our money in the jar.
But now that I'm an adult, my husband and I, what we do...
Is we save our dollar bills.
If there's any loose ones around the house, we just dump them in a box and we save them.
And we keep this box in our bedroom because we all know that dollar bills are always safest in the bedroom.
They're safe there.
But I'm in the mattress.
So when do you look to see how much you've saved?
Typically, we wait until the end of the year.
So once you have a big celebration, you pull it up.
All right.
So audience, let me come to you guys.
Thank you for that.
Tim, I'm going to come back to you in a second.
Let me see your wallets.
Put your wallets out.
Listen, we got ones in there?
On ones?
No.
No ones?
Only 20s?
20s and 5s.
5?
Well, 5. You must have given them away.
You have ones here.
I have ones here.
There are a lot of ones here.
Look at that.
Think about all these ones.
Would you consider doing what we're being advised?
Taking these ones and putting them in a box?
Maybe.
Maybe.
So if we did that, Frances, in your case, when you do this little exercise, how much money do you end up with at the end of a year?
Well, we...
Typically save anywhere between $300.
$300?
$300.
I'd do that.
That's better than the change counter over there.
I like that idea very much.
Thank you for your advice.
Keep saving.
Thank you.
Love what you do.
All right.
Next, we want to find ways of saving money at mealtime.
Dawn is a mother of three.
She's busy.
She says there was a time that she was spending way more than she wanted to on food, so she came up with a plan to cut.
Costs.
What's the secret?
The secret that I have in my family is we do at least three meatless meals a week.
And we do, here's a frittata, which, you know, is easy to sneak in a little spinach, which is a favorite.
Also, a black bean burger, which is mine and my husband's favorite.
And finally, for all working moms, I actually work on a farm, and it's great to throw all kinds of vegetables in here.
And at the end of the day...
You work on a farm?
I do, I do.
Where do you live?
I live in Cranford, New Jersey.
Good for you.
There's farms in New Jersey now.
Yeah, it's the last one in New Jersey.
Do the kids mind when you make these meatless dishes?
No, actually, they love it, especially the eggs, because eggs is a great way to sneak things in.
Like I said, something like spinach and a lot of cheese in there, too.
Not too much, but enough to make it tasty for them.
So if folks right now move from having meat to a meatless option three times a week, they could copy you.
How much money do you roughly save?
At least $30 a week, and that's not even counting the health benefits.
$30 a week?
So in a year, that is $1,500.
This is a math for everybody else.
What do you do with all that extra cash?
You can buy a car.
I know!
Well, my two girls have very expensive tastes.
They love to horseback ride.
So it's a nice hobby.
I do.
I believe I have the same problem, by the way.
Enjoy farming.
Thank you so much.
Our next mom has three kids.
She says she's found a great way to find extra cash.
She says her money-saving secret is all about rounding.
Now, most folks are intimidated by rounding.
They heard about it in math class.
So explain it to us all.
Well, I like math.
So rounding, I like to round up when I'm paying my bills.
And take the extra money.
So if I have a cable bill, let's say that's $85, which we know the cable bill is a lot more than $85, but I'll round up to $90 and I'll put that $5 in savings.
And then when I'm putting deposits in the bank, I round down.
So if I have a check for $185, I'll take $10 off the top and put that in savings and just put the other $175 where I pay my bills from so that I have this money that I don't even see, but it accumulates over time.
So your checking account actually purposely underestimates how much money you have there.
Yes.
Well, I actually opened a separate account that I try not to touch.
You know, it's the savings account.
I have three boys at home.
We're saving for college.
And this is the money that, you know, when we can spare it, we put it in there and we don't spend it.
What gave you the idea of doing this?
You know, I'd like to say it was my idea, but I had heard on the...
Radio about a bank that offered a debit card.
It was like a bank card where they would round up the change and do that for savings.
And I thought, I don't need a bank card to do that.
I can just do it with my own money.
So give me an idea of how much money we're talking about at the end of the year.
How much can you save?
You know what?
Probably about $100 a month, so it's like $1,200 a year.
$1,200 a year?
Yeah.
So put this together, everybody.
If you do all these secrets, it's roughly $3,000 a year.
You might as well enjoy it.
Because you're saving money without realizing it.
For more money-saving ideas, log on to DrObs.com.
I love surprising moms.
Were you surprised?
*Cheering* Thank you.
Thank you.
Do you have a favorite $1 fix that you use in the kitchen?
I never buy store-brand salad dressing.
It's way too expensive and often packed with unnecessary ingredients and calories.
I use lemon juice and olive oil.
Saves money and tastes great.
Share yours on Facebook.com slash Dr. Oz.
Next, a mother fighting for her child.
A young child fighting for her life.
The battle to get her a lung transplant, even when the law said no.
What she did to fight the system.
And now she's helping other kids get transplants too.
An inspiring Mother's Day story.
Next.
All new odds.
Women who've lost half their body weight.
Transformation is so amazing.
You have to see it to believe it.
If you think you can't lose weight, think again.
How they did it, so you can too.
Plus, rip a page from Lala Anthony's power playbook.
You can be great at more than one thing.
How she went from the bottom to the top.
Lala sharing her rules.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
Monday.
Lots of moms and daughters in the audience.
Are you always fighting to protect each other?
Yeah.
Yeah, you are.
Well, today I've got a story about two fighters.
A mom fighting for her child and her daughter fighting for her life.
Janet Murnahan made national headlines two years ago when she fought for her 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, to have a lung transplant.
Sarah suffers from cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening illness that targets the lungs.
Her condition was so severe, her doctor predicted that she had only weeks to live.
Unless she received a successful lung transplant.
But federal policy prevented children under the age of 12 from being considered for an adult lung.
Then it launched a massive publicity campaign to change the under-12 policy and filed a lawsuit against the federal government claiming the system discriminated against children.
She also took the fight to social media.
Family and friends circulated a petition on Change.org The grassroots effort paid off.
The transplant network created an exception, making Sarah eligible to receive an adult lung transplant.
The first surgery failed.
But after three days in critical condition and on life support, Sarah received a second transplant.
This time, the high-risk operation was a success.
It took six long months to recover, but Sarah was finally able to return home to her family.
Janet and Fran Murnahan and their daughter Sarah are all joining us.
I like the thumbs up.
How are you feeling with your new lungs?
It's going really well.
I've been able to run around outside and go to the pool and I've been learning how to ride my bike.
You're riding your bike now?
Yes.
That can be dangerous.
Are you happy being able to do all these new things you couldn't do before?
Yes.
Have you seen lungs before?
I've seen a picture of them, but I didn't actually see them in real life before.
Like the way you're going to see them in a minute, under that towel?
Yeah.
You want to see them under the towel?
Yes, I do.
Come on over here.
So here are your purple gloves.
It goes with your dress, by the way.
Here, Mom and Dad.
You take a look at these as well.
Let me show you what your lungs look like.
Just so we're all on the same page here, because this was a life-saving intervention mom did.
Sarah didn't get just...
Are you ready, Sarah?
Are you ready?
She wants me to hold on.
I'm going to hold on.
I'm going to put them on my gloves.
The gloves are a little big for you, but the color goes well with your eyes.
So you didn't just get one lung.
You got two lungs.
So that's what they look like.
You can go ahead and touch them.
What do you think about them?
Are you playing an instrument?
What are you playing?
They don't make any noise.
You can pick them up.
See, these...
They're just squishy feeling.
They are squishy feeling.
Don't drop them now.
But lungs are unique, and they blow up with air, and they do all kinds of miraculous things, and they're very delicate.
So when they're destroyed and we replace them, it's a big operation.
And you can see these are adult lungs.
They do fit in the children, and we can do things to make them fit, but it's not always an easy match.
That's important because Sarah was only 10 years old when she needed a transplant, and she wasn't considered first on the transplant waiting list for adults, only for kids.
So, Fran, how did you react finding out that your daughter would probably die because she couldn't get listed on that adult list?
I was shocked because Sarah's had cystic fibrosis her entire life, so we knew at some point it was going to be challenging.
But what was really shocking was the fact that someone else who was much healthier than her would probably get lungs before her just because of her age.
You okay with those lungs?
These organs are so sacred.
When we do transplants, I always think about that as you're putting them into people because it is truly the gift of life.
These lists are created by good, well-meaning people, but they sometimes...
Have gaps in them.
So, Janet, how does it feel to know that because of your petitioning and pushing and shoving, you've not only saved your daughter's life, but many others now because you've created an exemption on this pediatric list?
Well, of course, it was amazing to save Sarah and very surreal.
But we always wanted to make the change for all kids.
It was never just about Sarah for us.
So we feel really, really proud.
At night, we still go in and look at her breathing.
You know, it's just an amazing thing just to see her breathing like any other kid.
Never take that for granted again.
Parents do that a lot.
Brent, who's the bigger fighter in the family, your wife or your daughter?
Sarah.
I think Sarah most definitely.
She went...
She, I mean, through the entire process...
And just her entire life, she's always effortlessly fought.
Never complained.
And there was one point, actually, when we were in the ICU, when we asked her, you know, that this is really rough.
This is tough.
I mean, at any point, this is too much for you.
Let us know.
And she looked up and gave us this look.
A little sly look like she's kind of giving out.
And she said that she never wants to give up, and she never wanted us to give up for her.
So, Sarah, what's next for you besides playing with the organs?
What are you hoping for next?
I want to be on the swim team with my brother and sister, Sean and Ella, so I'm going to do, like, lots of hard school swim lessons so that I can be on the swim team in the fall or the winter.
Nothing's gonna hold you back, my dear.
Nothing whatsoever.
I'm very proud of you and your parents as well for making this all happen.
To find out how to become an organ donor, because we have enough donors, we don't have any crisis with getting them to the patients, you can log on to DonateLife.net.
We'll be right back.
There's no way to have more games to have this.
Whoever said a doctor's visit isn't fun has obviously never been to the Dr. Oz show.
Is that right?
Make your appointment together.
Go to DrOz.com/tickets and sign up for free tickets.
Woo!
All new Oz, women who've lost half their body weight.
The transformation is so amazing, you have to see it to believe it.
I'm not giving up.
If you think you can't lose weight, think again.
How they did it so you can too.
Plus, rip a page from Lala Anthony's power playbook.
You can be great at more than one thing.
How she went from the bottom to the top.
Lala sharing her rules.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
All new Oz.
Women who lost half their body weight.
Transformation is so amazing.
You have to see it to believe it.
I'm not giving.
If you think you can't lose weight, think again.
How they did it, so you can too.
Plus, rip a page from Lala Anthony's power playbook.
You can be great at more than one thing.
How she went from the bottom to the top.
Lala sharing her rules.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Monday.
With Mother's Day just two days away, here's a little history lesson about the celebration.
It all started with a woman named Anna Jarvis, who wanted to honor her mother, a Civil War peace activist who died in 1905.
Now, Jarvis pushed for a national holiday to pay homage to all mothers, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation.
Making the second Sunday in May, the national Mother's Day holiday that we celebrate today.
So to all the mothers out there, especially my dear Lisa and Daphne, who are both mothers now, happy Mother's Day!
Now it's time for, in case you missed it, first, mom's best kept money saving secrets.
Believe it or not, you can save money at mealtime by introducing your family to vegetarian and meatless meals a few times a week.
You can make meatless meals...
Like this crockpot vegetarian chili, which is super easy to make.
You can save time and it tastes out of this world.
They have a black bean burger.
I'm going to have all these recipes on dros.com.
And eggs are a fantastic source of protein.
Healthy elements can be made.
And by doing this, you can easily save 30 bucks a week.
$30 a week.
That's about $1,500 per year.
Even better, healthy vegetarian diets are typically low in fat and high in fiber.
Here's another great tip that's mom approved.
Instead of putting just loose change in a jar, you should do this too.
You know, save that money.
It makes a difference.
But take it one step further and toss the singles from your wallet into the shoebox each night.
When you do that, those $1 or $2 a night add up pretty quickly to a savings of $300 a year.
Now that, I think, is a reasonable chunk of change to make something good in your life happen.
I have another show off with Kelly Rowland, who I adore.
And she speaks to the beauty of life when this new child came into her existence.
But then she lost her mom tragically.
And for Mother's Day, I want us all to think about the one thing we really appreciate about our moms, besides the fact that they gave birth to us.
So who wants to go first?
Who loves their mom?
What's your name?
Christine Welker.
So what's special about mom?
What's special about mom?
Well, I'd say that she taught me how to be strong, passionate, and love everything I do.
Is that right?
I hope so.
Yes, it is.
How about you over here?
My mom has got me through good times and bad times, and she's my rock.
Is that your sister over there?
It is.
Hi, what's your name?
Melissa.
To top your sister now.
It's a competition here.
We're trying to beat each other.
She's taught me how to...
Operate a kitchen.
How to cook.
I wouldn't have known how to turn the oven on if it wasn't for her.
So, thanks, Mom.
All right, hang it down to your colleague over there.
I'm definitely thankful for my mom working so hard, sending me to a great school.
Definitely my education for my mom.
Now, is Mom, that's Grandma there?
All right, so what do you have to say for Grandma?
I am so grateful my mother gave me my sense of humor.
Is your mom funny?
You're not that funny.
Mom.
Is that grandma?
She is funny.
I had this big vision in my home for a book I was going to write.
It was going to be a comedy book.
So I was talking to my wife about it, and she was very drolly acknowledging that it wasn't going to be very good.
So I finally thought I'd go to my daughter to get an arbitration.
So I went to my daughter and said, Honey, don't you love this idea?
It's so cool.
And she looked at me very calmly and she said, It would be a funny book if funny people wrote it.
So I love you all for Mother's Day.
Thank you for being here.
And listen, I gotta do my little disclaimer here.
Don't forget, please be careful of dubious people online that make it seem like I'm endorsing their products.
I don't.
To see a full list of our trusted sponsorship partners, you can go to drrodas.com.
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