Helene Campbell is busy packing her bags, preparing her medication, maybe even getting a haircut. After all, she flies out to California, tomorrow morning, to appear on “The Ellen Show”.
It’s a date with the talk-show host a year in the making.
“It hasn't really hit me yet. I watched the show this morning,” says Campbell.
“My brother was like 'Oh my gosh. You're going to be maybe sitting in that chair.”
Degerenes told Campbell she would fly her out to Burbank, California, when she first appeared on the show via Skype, last February. At the time, Campbell was advocating the importance of organ donation while waiting for a double-lung transplant of her own.
Campbell received the gift in life in April and is now well enough to travel.
“I had my 9-month assessment in January and I had no infection and no rejection,” says Campbell.
“I wanted to be able to dance out there at my best and not kind of mediocre,” she adds.
When asked if she had prepared anything for her first in-person encounter with Degeneres, Campbell says she’ll play it by ear.
“Ellen is so natural and so great. And the causes that I love to speak about are near and dear to my heart. It's not anything different, I won't change who I am, and I’ll just be myself.”
Campbell will appear – and dance – on “The Ellen Show” on Tuesday, February 19th.
More to come.
