A lung transplant is a type of surgery. People who can not breathe without additional oxygen may need a lung transplant. In this surgery, the patient's ill lung or lungs are removed. [1] A healthy lung or lungs are put into the patient. The healthy lungs may come from a dead or from a living person. When the person who gives, or donates, the healthy lung is still alive, only one lung is removed. Sometimes a healthy person can give just part of a lung to a sick person. A healthy person can normally give a lung or part of a lung without becoming sick.