Lung Transplant Recipient Thrilled To Meet Peyton Manning

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4)- A lifelong Broncos fan will get to attend her first game at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on Sunday. Linda Regis of Colorado Springs is a double lung transplant recipient who is crazy about former quarterback Peyton Manning.

Thanks to Manning and an elaborate plan to surprise her, Regis got the thrill of a lifetime.

"I was in bad shape," Regis told CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh.

For 8 years, she depended on oxygen. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was taking her breath away.

"Sometimes even just getting out of bed would exhaust me," said Regis, "There was just no air. I couldn't breathe."

In November 2016, Regis entered University of Colorado Hospital to receive a double lung transplant. While there, she had something else on her mind.

"I wanted to see Peyton Manning," she said.

Regis is a devoted fan of the former Denver Broncos quarterback. These days, Manning is a UCHealth spokesman. Regis figured the football star would be around the hospital.

"I'd say 'Manning here?,'" she explained with a smile.

And that's what nurses say Regis asked as she was recovering from transplant surgery.

"There was just something about him that, I just felt, I needed and wanted to meet him," said Regis.

Fast forward to August 2018. Regis was invited to take pictures at the UCHealth Training Center at Broncos headquarters. It was all a surprise set up by UCHealth.

The Broncos captured the moment when Regis was photobombed by the future Hall of Famer.

"That was just a dream, a bucket list dream, that I never thought would come true," she said.

And then came four game tickets. The lifelong fan will finally see her team play a game at Mile High.

"I'm so excited about Sunday, I can't sit still," Regis said.

Regis said she'll be thinking about the anonymous organ donor, who she calls "her angel," and she plans to use the gift of new lungs to hoot and holler for the home team.