Lifelong Florida Gator Becomes A Diehard Georgia Bulldogs Fan After Nearly Dying During Lung Transplant

Grab the tissues for this one. This is a truly incredible story. This year, ESPN ran a series of stories about college football fans titled On Countdown To Gameday. The video series followed diehard sports fans and investigated why they cheer for their selected team. One man's story, featured in the miniseries, stood out among the others as it is greater than college football—it's a story about life. In November, ESPN shared the story of a lifelong Florida Gators fan, Richard Bremer, and how he changed his alliance after a serious life event led him to become a diehard Georgia Bulldogs fan. The Jacksonville, Florida, native led Bremer to be a lifelong Florida Gator fan. However, after being diagnosed with a progressive lung disease, he was soon on the list for a lung transplant to his life. At this time, Bremer was on 100% oxygen, waiting for his name to reach the top of the transplant list, knowing that in order for his life to be saved, an organ donor's family's worst nightmare had to become a reality. That nightmare came true for Megan Twist's family when the 23-year-old, diehard Georgia Bulldogs fan was in a serious car accident. Twist moved to Jacksonville, Florida, after spending her college days in Athens, bringing her love for the Dawgs to Gator territory. After the car wreck, Twist was life-flighted to a hospital in Jacksonville in an attempt to save her life. After the doctors did everything they could, they informed Megan's family that her brain and skull trauma were too significant to save her life, and they removed her from the ventilator. Just four months before her tragic death, she decided to become an organ donor, and her lungs would be used to save Richard Bremer's life. Megan's sister recalls how caring Megan was and that it was fitting for her to help people even after she'd passed. "She loved helping people, so it's just very fitting that she ended up helping others after she died."  Two and half years after being placed on the transplant list, Richard Bremer got the call that they found a lung match, and he was needed for surgery. While this story is moving enough as is, another element during his surgery will truly leave you with chills. During the transplant surgery, Bremer recalls that he died for 15 minutes on the operating table, leaving his body and going into the light. "I left my body and went into the light; I met a little girl." After several weeks in a medically induced coma, when he woke up to a news story about Megan Twist. The girl shown on the TV screen was the girl he met in the light. Megan told him while he was flatlined that she would breathe for him and that it was not his time to let go into the light. "I was freaking out. The girl on the TV was the girl I saw in the light. She told me it wasn't my time and I couldn't stay. She said she was going to breathe for me." Once Bremer was discharged, he changed his whole wardrobe, replacing blue and orange with black and red. Bremer says he has new DNA, so he's never looked back, cheering for the Dawgs. Talk about an incredible story and an astonishing legacy for this young woman. Grab the tissues before firing this one up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dOcPRLEdtc