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hi there, back here at msnbc headquarters here in new york. breaking news, nbc news has confirmed the obama administration will lift travel restrictions from south africa and seven other african countries beginning december 31st. while south africa reports they have passed their peak of omicron cases here in the u.s. the variant is still spreading faster than any variant we've seen so far in the pandemic. more than 250,000 new cases just yesterday. some better news is that hospitalizations are remaining flat. but the major surge is creating difficult decisions for a lot of families who don't want to spend another holiday apart. that spike also grounding thousands of flights more than 1,900 cancelled around the globe yesterday. some airlines saying the omicron

variant is leading to crew shortages. i want to bring in the -- happy christmas eve to all of you. josh, we learned just in the past hour the white house is going to ease the travel restrictions on eight south african nations, why the decision now? >> with omicron running rampant across the united states it might seem that now is the wrong time to be actually easing travel restrictions. but the white house says that this decision was guided by the science. for two reasons, chris. first of all, they say that according to the cdc it is now proven that the vaccines that we have are effective at making sure that people don't get severe illness from the omicron variant. secondly, they say that now that omicron is already widespread across the united states, there

is diminishing value in actually having those restrictions to keep people from coming to the united states. so this lifted restriction will go away at 12:01 a.m. on december 31st. meaning people from those eight south african countries will be able to come to the united states now. but the white house emphasizing they will be subject to the stepped up restrictions that are applicable across the board now. meaning you have to get tested within one day of coming to the united states, as opposed to three days. >> we always tell people at the holidays it's good to check your airline but never more so than now because of the flight cancellations. explain what's behind them and what's going on behind you. >> chris, behind me right now, i'm at a testing site here in miami this has been going on the last four or five days, nonstop cars, infections surging in florida. with respect to the flight

cancellations, southwest airlines had a melt down a couple months ago, you recall, they had to cancel 1,800 flights in one weekend. in this case united and delta combined have cancelled 320 flights, 170 for united, 150 for delta. that represents 7 to 9% of their total flights today. here's the issue, chris. one is the domino effect, you cancel flights today, it bleeds into the rest of the weekend, throws off everyone's scheduling. the second part is the timing. if someone can't see their family today, can't open christmas presents tomorrow, the experience is not going to be the same. so this is a curveball and a gut punch for all the families who have to readjust plans accordingly. united has acknowledged omicron is playing a huge role in this. delta says it's a combination of the variant and also the fact there's been weather in the west coast that's disrupted flights.

looking at that as a totality, the number of flight attendants and airport personnel that have been vaccinated so far has been between 90 and 95%. they're seeing break through infections still. delta's ceo is positioning dr. rochelle walensky to cut down the time for quarantine. will there be a response to that is really the question right now as airlines are worried about short staffing at a critical point in time, chris. >> again, check before you go to the airport. so kathy, look, i walk through midtown manhattan every day on my way to and from work. i know you've seen those lines now for days. you've been talking to people for days. are we still like sam is seeing in florida, seeing the big lines? what are people telling you? >> yeah, it's crunch time, right. time is running out. it's christmas eve so we are still seeing the lines. in fact, there is mobile testing over to my right and there was a

huge line this morning. however, just a few moments ago, they realized this location is closed so the crowd dispersed -- >> what? >> yeah, i know. so they were waiting in line for who knows how long to get the covid test but there is another line across the street from here in midtown manhattan, there's a huge line, in fact. we were there a few minutes ago. they told us they are separating folks for pcr tests as well as rapid tests and there are huge lines for both. hours are limited today. obviously because it's christmas eve. so we're told that things will shutdown at 2:00. we were there, we were asking them, look, if you can't get a test today, what happens? >> so this is what they gave us. they gave us a free at-home test. there are two tests in this kit. so this is something that the city is doing now to kind of alleviate some of the pressure points with all these long lines growing all across the city. this along with more testing

locations, the mayor pledged more than 112 locations throughout the city. fema is stepping in with six different locations. and then starting next week, kathy hochul, the governor said there will be more pop up spots. there are places people can turn to but here we are, christmas eve, holiday, crunch season, people want the results today so they can gather with loved ones later on this evening or tomorrow. >> that leads us to the obvious question. you waited in line for hours but if you want the pcr test we're seeing a strain on labs. folks waiting days, it's worthless to get a test if you don't get your results back three or four or five days. so is it better to get the at home test, may be less reliable,

but you're getting together with folks tomorrow? >> absolutely. there's tremendous value in the pcr test. we know that's by far the most sensitive and accurate of the test. so sensitive it picks up genetic material from the virus, even when you're no longer infectious, which is why back in the day the cdc reversed its guidance that you needed a negative pcr to get out of quarantine. the utility, say a week or two before, if you wanted to do an accurate test and then lay low so you don't infect and then do a rapid anyway. the pcr again, tremendous value, especially if you are symptomatic and test negative with an antigeantigen test. you need to wait for the pcr to

come back negative so you can say you are. >> if it took a few days to get a test and your symptoms have abated sit worthwhile to take it? >> talking about pcr or the antigen. >> either one. >> the antigen is a snapshot in your time of your infectiousness, which is what we want urging everyone to do a rapid test before going to a party. if you test negative on a rapid, you're fairly certain that you are not infectious at that moment in time. but if you're symptomatic, you have to worry about a false negative there and i would not assume that you are without a pcr. >> molly that brings me to you. i thought i had seen and heard yesterday then yesterday i read one out of every 45 people in the uk was believed to have been

infected last week, 1.2 million people. what can you tell us about what the heck is going on over there and are they expecting things to get better? >> chris, that's right. a staggering shocking statistic here in london where i am, the capital, that's an estimated 1 in 30, you listed the country wide statistic was one in 45. there is evidence that omicron is less likely to land you in the hospital. so compared to delta, and these are early numbers here in the uk, compared to delta, omicron is 41 to 45% less likely to put you in the emergency room and 50% less likely to put you in the hospital full stop. so the government's message is get boosted and be careful about who you socialize with over the

weekend. there aren't serious restrictions like we see in europe, but i think next week we'll see the stepped up restrictions like we saw last winter here in the uk. >> israel we know has been considering approving a fourth dose for vulnerable individuals. there's been controversy as we discussed it here in the u.s. as well because of waning efficacy, what are the pros and cons? >> the controversy is because i think there's two fundamentally different, you know, schools of thought on the purpose of vaccination. right, the primary goal is to prevent severe disease and death. even if you haven't been boosted although there's a diminution of protection against severe disease and hospitalization, it remains reasonably durable. the purpose of vaccination is to enhance your front line armor against exposure in the form of infection, mild, moderate, that kind of thing. so some experts are saying are

we going to do this, are we going to keep on boosting the same group of people. it's almost like we're treading water because we have a substantial number of individuals in the u.s. who haven't been vaccinated at all. but the rational for boosting immunocompromised people is this, chris, your antibody levels start to decline rapidly after a booster. they reach maximum at two weeks and start to decline. if you're really trying to protect a vulnerable person, someone immunocompromised or older. it's not unreasonable to think they might need a fourth shot of boost after the third. we are doing it in some populations. my patients already are getting fourth doses. >> okay. >> for this precise reason. but the general population, it's a little bit more of a controversial approach. >> so let me ask you, finally, because everybody is exhausted,

we're sick of it, don't want anything to do with covid anymore but the reality as you see with the lines in florida and new york city, people are trying to do the right thing. can you give them a glimmer of hope. is the thinking in the scientific community that the omicron surge in the united states is going to evolve downward over the next couple of weeks? >> if you think about the repeatedy with which it's spreading. i can speak for myself, i have never in this pandemic since it started been so personally affected by people in my orbit who have become infected. multiple friends my daughter tested positive yesterday. i know, knock on wood, she's almost 14, she's handling it, but it's not easy. what does it mean? it means the virus is spreading so rapidly. and at some point, because it's going to infect enough people the virus will run out of places and hosts to infect.

i think that's what we're seeing in south africa with the rapid rise they have a high level of population immunity in south africa but when the virus has no place to go, it won't be able to spread anymore. i do anticipate we will see, the curve is vertical, if you look at the numbers in most cities in this country that we'll see a more rapid drop off certainly than when we saw the very flattening the curve and the slow surges in the beginning of the pandemic, chris. >> keeping a good thought for your daughter and all the folks out there who have found themselves positive. and of all times at christmas. maybe santa claus can bring an antidote. doctor thank you. kathy park, molly hunter, josh letterman, sam brock. thank you all. what is the weather going to be like for the christmas weekend? good news, lots of places warmer than usual. bad news for some folks white

christmas doesn't begin to cover it. meteorologist michelle grossman is here with more. a lot of folks want a white christmas, in some places it's ridiculous. tell me what we're seeing across the country. >> i know. it's sort of a whacky forecast. you hit it on the head. we are looking at a ton of snow out west, very white christmas and some of us will be barbecuing because we're looking at temperatures closer to memorial day as opposed to christmas day. you can see in the central and southern plains looking at 70s and 80s, up to 84 today in dallas. we need to talk about the monster storm out to the west because this is where all the dramatic whether is. that's what we're going to see the next several days, winter alerts from the northwest, southwest into the rockies, really east of the rockies looking dry and clear for those last minute items you need to get done today. winter storm warnings that's

where we could see feet in many places. radar, active, the blue is where you see the snow, green, yellow, that's rain. los angeles you had a ton of rain yesterday. and we'll see some rain in arizona as well. a really wet day to the wet. very white christmas there. and i don't know if you had a coating of snow today but we did, i'm in bucks county, pennsylvania. so a taste of some snow here in the northeast. >> didn't see any here but headed to ohio, so snowbelting with who knows. coming up, democratic lawmakers were hoping they'd be celebrating build back better, instead they're back at the table. and a pennsylvania congresswoman talking about how she was carjacked at gun point in philadelphia. s carjacked at gun point in philadelphia tide pods dissolve even when the water is freezing. nice!

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now to the latest on the president's agenda and the build back better act now in limbo at a time when the administration had hoped to be able to celebrate its passage. now that senator joe manchin has refused to sign on, democrats are left with a choice. how much are they willing to concede to get something, anything, passed into law? sarah muha, tyler pager and mariana alfaro. good to see all of you. tyler, what's the president's

next move? >> after they come back from the holidays, the president is going to reengage with democrats to figure out a path forward. he struck an optimistic tone this week telling the press he thinks he and joe manchin and other democrat senators can get done, a dramatic departure from the sunday night statement we saw from press secretary jen psaki, that was blistering to manchin for walking away from the deal. so they're going to figure out what they need to cut to ultimately get his vote. when you talk to sources on capitol hill, they remain confident there is a deal there and there's enough they can agree on to move forward. but "the halftime report" there's painful conversations in the new year about what is left out of the bill. >> what do those painful conversations sound like among democrats? clearly joe manchin is not on board for the whole thing but he may be willing to work with them on other stuff, is there about

how much democrats are willing to compromise at this point? . >> yeah, like tyler mentioned we're going to see democrats face the task of whittling down the bill further. over the year they cut the bill from $3.5 trillion and senator manchin is saying he doesn't want to spend more than $1.75 trillion. so what they're looking at doing is, instead of having several programs with differing lengths, what manchin is hoping that democrats can come to the table and agree on several programs they can make permanent. there's going to be a lot of those difficult conversations about what they're going to keep and leave out. and, you know, some strategists that i've spoken to are warning of an almost firing squad as democrats duke this out and decide what their most important priorities are. >> so tyler, you did have the scoop on joe manchin's counter offer to the white house, which

notably did not include extending the child tax credit. tell us about where you see potentially some common ground or if that's even feasible at this point. >> yeah, look, one of the areas that democrats are optimistic about on common ground is environmental spending, policies to combat climate change. we have not seen full details of the counter offer to the white house. we know there are billions set aside for climate change, that's something many democrats say they will not move forward without that. another thing is the affordable care act and making health insurance more available to more americans. but the sticking point is the child tax credit. one of the reasons why this is such a sticking point for democrats is because they've been excited about the results they've seen from the tax credit that they've already implemented, it's set to expire at the end of the year, democrats hoped to make it

permanent. and president biden touts this is a policy that he argues has cut child poverty in half. so they are disappointed that manchin has raised concerns about that. there's a lot of reporting about why he's concerned about it, thinking it's going to people who don't deserve it or spending it on things they shouldn't be spending it on instead of their children. this is something we're going to see debate over the next year, is there a way to compromise with joe manchin whether it's capping the amount of tax credit available for certain families depending on their economic status or whether they have to abandon it fully. >> is that part of the key conversations, it's not either all or nothing, is something better than nothing? is that where the conversation is going for a lot of people trying to convince folks who still want to push to get this full package or something very close to it? >> well, the conversation right now pretty much is that liberals are angry and i think they feel

justified in that because they compromised a lot to pass the bill last month and went back to the voters and said we didn't get this, but we're going to do more next time to get what we want. now they're going back home and don't have anything to show for it. so i think that's what we have to deal with next month when everyone comes back to the office and just kind of understand what can work for everyone, make everyone happy. we're entering 2022, they have to have something to take back to voters and say we are representing your needs despite whatever our colleagues are fighting for on their end. so i think liberals are on their i told you so mode right now. we'll see how that develops. >> i hope you all enjoy your holiday because you'll have a busy start to 2022, not a lot of sleep for any of you. thank you all very much. we appreciate you taking the time today. we are hearing firsthand now, the harrowing story of congresswoman mary gay scanland

after she was carjacked in philadelphia at gun point this week. she was walking to her car when another vehicle blocked her parking space. listen to what she told nbc 10 in philadelphia. >> two people got out of the car and approached us with guns. and one of them said give me the keys. so i did. the fact this happened in fdr park, a place where so many find refuge from the hustle and bustle of urban life is particularly upsetting. >> authorities did recover her car and five teenagers have been charged with robbery. the january 6th committee ramping up the fight to get its hands on documents that donald trump is trying to shield. their newest strategy going all the way to the supreme court. al thwae y to the supreme court

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former president donald trump is taking his fight to the supreme court as he tries to block the release of white house records that could shed some light on the january 6th insurrection. a bipartisan house panel investigating the attack is asking the highest court to speed up the consideration of

trump's appeal. joining us is pete williams. julie sirkin and glen kirshner. good to see all of you. how is donald trump framing the arguments to block the documents? >> the other side hasn't responded yet other than to say the house committee, the january 6th committee other than saying hurry up and decide if you're taking the appeal. the former president says former presidents do have some executive privilege and if the lower court rulings are to stand and the archives passes the material to congress it would weaken the executive privilege of future presidents and that could make people less willing to give candid advice if they fear what they say is going to make its way to congress and possibly the public record. they frame this as a novel question. they say the supreme court has never said exactly how much

power the former president has to assert executive privilege. that's, in a sense, true but also not true. the supreme court said in a 1977 case involving president richard nixon and the archives, yes, former presidents have some residual power but it has to yield to whatever the current president says whether or not it should be asserted. and in this case president biden has said, it won't be asserted because he has said that the congress has a greater need for investigative materials that outweighs whatever privilege the former president has. so the supreme court has to decide whether to take the case, the house says to hurry up and make a decision because they need the documents to decide where it goes from here. >> is this the case that you see the supreme court being responsive to hurry up? >> they might be, and let's hope they are. of course, pete has done the

reporting and the legal analysis better than i can do it. but let me add something. i think it was judge tonya cutkin who issued an opinion noting this is almost a rare instance when you have two co-equal branches of government on the same page because the executive branch, through joe biden, decided these materials should go from the national archives to the house select committee and that's why he waived any potential executive privilege, and it is his privilege to wave. and you have the congress agreeing with him saying we want to perform our duties to get to the bottom of what happened on january 6th. i don't see a significant constitutional issue here for the supreme court to resolve. so let's hope they decline review. that way the house select committee can get the important information it needs to continue its investigation. >> glen, let me also ask you

about a request from the january 6th committee. one of the things they want is to focus on the hours of silence that they see in terms of the time right when the attack was happening. and to obtain what they say -- or at least believe, are different versions of a tape that the president made that we never saw. chairman benny thompson told "the washington post" it appears he tried to do the taping several times but wouldn't say the right thing. could that add up to a crime? is that dereliction of duty? what are they focussing on that for? >> yeah, the whole world watched as the attack on the capitol unfolded. so everyone knew what was going on. it sure doesn't seem like this would be the time for the president of the united states, who let's face it, it was his supporters when he told them to march on the capitol to stop the steal, of course, there was no steal, and to fight like hell or

you won't have a country anymore. they obeyed those directives so he had the power to stop them by early on during the attack putting out the word, stop, go home, cease and desist. that doesn't seem to be the time for him to do multiple takes to try to get whatever, his camera angle right, his message right. if ever time was of the essence, it's while the people in the capital were under attack. he apparently declined to do that, we know, for i think it was 187 minutes. and i think not only does the house select committee need to know why, but we all need to know why. >> yeah. about four hours until we actually heard from the president. julie, meantime, an attorney for bernie carrick, the former police commissioner who worked with rudy giuliani to find fraud said he's prepared to release documents he believes are not privileged and prepared to do it by the end of next week.

what can you tell us about that? >> this is a big development that came overnight. our league, peter alexander obtaining a letter from his attorney saying, carrick will cooperate. we expect to make documents available by the end of next week. he went on to say that his client, in addition to turning over the documents will appear for his scheduled deposition in mid january. something interesting here. he plans to release these documents that he is releasing to the committee publicly. because he does not trust that the committee will represent these documents as fact and as they are presented to the committee. this is interesting because it's a line that has been used by others that the committee wants to hear from. like congressman jim jordan who this week on fox news said he doesn't believe that the texts he exchanged with mark meadows were presented by the committee as fact. he accused the committee of altering those documents so we

have carrick who said he will cooperate with the committee but also going to make the documents public for himself so the public can, quote, see what really went on behind the scenes and not just trust the committee to do it for him. >> thanks to all of you. coming up we'll go to minneapolis, where the jury found ex-police officer kim potter guilty in the killing of daunte wright. how much prison time she could face ahead. wright. how much prison time she could face ahead ading experience. with innovation that lets you customize interfaces, charts and orders to your style of trading. personalized education to expand your perspective. and a dedicated trade desk of expert-level support. that will push you to be even better. and just might change how you trade—forever. because once you experience thinkorswim® by td ameritrade ♪♪♪ there's no going back. ♪♪ thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer

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have been found guilty. joining me shaquille bruster and kristen gibbons. shaq, let me start with you, what are you hearing from activists, wright's family from people who day in and day out were at that trial? >> there's still that sense of surprise you hear. you saw that reflected in the moments after the verdict was read where there was an uproar of cheers outside the courthouse, people hugging, singing, then inside the courtroom you saw the emotion from the mother of dante wright, the woman on the phone with him seconds before he was shot and killed by kim potter and when the verdict was read exclaimed a cry in the courtroom. i want you to listen to what we heard from her this morning explaining her reaction to the verdict. >> justice would be daunte being home. justice would be no more names being yelled in our streets.

and until that happens and we don't have to fight anymore, that's when justice will be. right now we're going to accept accountability and we're thankful to that. i'm optimistic they'll do the right thing and give her a fair sentence. >> reporter: and you heard her mention that word accountability. in my conversations with folks outside the courthouse one of the reasons they were so surprised by this verdict is because of what they heard from the testimony. unlike the chauvin trial you had the situation where the law enforcement testimony in this trial came from people who were supporting kim potter or at least defended the actions. you had the former police chief of the brooklyn center police department say that the action that kim potter took, now considered manslaughter did not violate policy and did not violate law. of course, the jury decided to disagree with that and rejected that line of thinking. but that goes to the sense of surprise you heard from so many people and the emotion you saw from katy bryant herself.

>> in a few months we'll be talking about sentencing. the state guidelines call for 7 years the prosecution says it wants more. what are the considerations for the judge here? >> in minnesota they have a framework for sentencing that's based on the defendant's criminal history as well as the underlying -- the severity of the underlying offense, in this case a very severe offense, she took the life of a man, manslaughter. but she has no criminal record so there's guide lines they set out, on the first degree it's around seven years, the second degree around four, because it's the same criminal episode for both charges the court will likely run them at the same time, but keep in mind the prosecutors at the end of the trial did say they were going to seek a departure from the sentencing guidelines and that means they're going to put forth evidence of aggravated factors. such as the fact that kim potter abused her position of authority. then in addition to that, chris,

you're going to hear really compelling testimony i'm sure from daunte wright's mother, his dad, and the mother of his child most likely. i think those factors will militate towards giving a sentence in the 7 to 9 year range. >> you never want to look at one individual case and draw too many conclusions. we do start seeing a pattern. can you talk about what you see as the significance of this moment, what it might mean for future police brutality cases, what it means for juries siding with the prosecution? >> yeah. you know, my hope is that it will increase efforts for police reform. one thing we do know, chris, is that at this point where there was a jury of nine caucasians, two asians and one black person, we know that police reform is not just an issue or a concern for black americans. it seems that it's shifting over to a concern for all americans.

so the hope is that this verdict will show that police reform is necessary and that there maybe needs to be more consideration on police deescalation training. specifically, before they even get to the stop. what are we stopping people for? does a traffic stop need to end in the killing or murder or death of an unarmed person? so there's going to be a lot of push and i hope for police reform in those efforts. >> shaq bruster, kristen gibbons, thanks to both of you. coming up during this holiday season we're going to talk about the senior citizens already so many isolated because of the pandemic seemed like they were getting visitors again, having more interaction with the community, now omicron, what we can do to help.

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in minnesota national guard members are filling in at nursing homes. their staffs hit hard by omicron. even entering the third year politico was reporting there's a big hole in available data on infection and deaths in special

nursing homes for elderly veterans. americans 65 and older make up three quarters of the covid death toll. one out of every 100 have died. add to the physical health threat isolation, loneliness. older people have had to avoid seeing family and friends for their own protection. in many cases that has hurt their mental health and had a physical impact as well. so what can we do to fix it? i want to bring in the executive director of a nonprofit that works to fight isolation and loneliness among older adults. it's good to see you, mark. i can't even imagine this was a problem before covid. but obviously it became exponentially worse. tell us a little bit about their organization and what you do to help. >> sure. well, thanks very much for the invitation to join you today.

derot is a nonprofit organization that addresses social isolation and loneliness. this issue has been a serious underappreciated health care crisis even before the pandemic. because three out of five americans report feeling lonely, and older adults are particularly vulnerable with 43% of seniors calling saying they are isolated and alone. and what derot does is that we engage thousands of volunteers over the course of a year to interact with older adults. and the amazing thing is that for derot, it is both our volunteers are of all ages, and we help people to stay ebb gauged and connected. >> how much greater is the need because of covid and how much more challenging to provide these services? >> oh, my gosh. it's been just absolutely huge. i mean, what we have had to do is most of our programming was

in person, face to face with volunteers going into the homes of older adults. visiting with them, helping them to stay connected. obviously since march of 2020, we have had to suspend all of our in-person programming, and we have switched to virtual programming both over the computer as well as our telephone-based programming. but what's really amazing is that the derot staff did an incredible job of being able to transition from our in-person programming to our virtual programming. because now we're not meeting in person, we are able to engage older adults and volunteers from around the country who are now participating in our virtual programming and our telephone-based programming an we've seen tremendous success in that area. >> tell us really quickly if people are out there watching, look, they know the need, and they want to get involved, how can they help? >> sure. so there's lots of different things. first, if people could pick up

the phone and call a friend of theirs who they -- who may be older, isolated and alone. not only just during the holidays but throughout the rest of the year. whether that's through derot or other community-based organizations. that will help. and what's really important is consider volunteers. volunteering does amazing things for the individual who is the volunteer as well as the individual who the volunteer is meeting with. there are so many different volunteer opportunities. people can check out idealist, volunteer match. because what they does is it helps individuals stay engaged and connected, and that's the key for helping to address the issue of social isolation and loneliness which we know has devastating health care consequences. >> mark, thank you and thank you for all you and your organization do. happy holidays. and coming up, after 200 days in

the hospital an illinois woman is headed home just on time for christmas. it's an incredible story of resilience, and it's next. mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to break 'em in a little bit. you don't want 'em too loose. for those who were born to ride there's progressive. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. think i'm gonna wear these home. -excellent choice. [music: sung by craig robinson] ♪ i'm a ganiac, ganiac, check my drawers ♪ -okay. [sfx: sniffs / long exhale] ♪ and my clothes smell so much fresher than before ♪ ♪ yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ i'm a ganiac, ganiac, check my drawers ♪ ♪ it's a freshness like i've never smelled before ♪

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now to a remarkable story of resilience and recovery. after more than 200 days in the hospital, an illinois woman received the heart and double lung transplant she needed. now she's headed home just on time for christmas. here's nbc news correspondent

gabe gutierrez. >> brittany has always been a fighter. >> she was born with congenital heart and lung disease where the blood vessels that communicate between the heart and the lungs were abnormal. and had to have emergency surgery at her first day of life. >> as she got older, her condition got worse, again. >> i was very limited doing anything. just walking from my bedroom to the kitchen was taxing. >> her doctors at northwestern medicine in chicago tried everything. >> we tried treating that with medications, diuretics, but it was just not going to be enough. and her quality of life was really deteriorating, and we knew something had to be done. >> that something, a rare heart and double lung transplant. >> combined heart and lung transplant is exceptionally uncommon. i mean, we're talking fewer than about 50 done total in the entire country per year. >> brittany was placed on the

transplant list on september of last year, but finding the perfect match can be a long and grueling process. >> we need to make absolutely certain that we're matching up brittany with the appropriate organs. >> and while brittany was waiting for a transplant, her mother, tammy, passed away from covid. >> she was a single mom. she was the biggest cubs fan you could ever meet. she loved christmas. she's one that would listen to christmas songs year around. >> tammy was brittany's best friend and primary care giver. >> you know, when you would talk to brittany's mother, she would tell you she has one wish. her one wish was that her daughter, brittany, would be able to have that new lease on life that she deserves. >> sometimes good things really do come to those who wait. >> i've been at northwestern since march 10th, waiting, and then november 2nd is when we got

the news that the heart and lungs were here. >> brittany's surgery, the first heart and double lung transplant at northwestern, a success. >> she did very, very well. i would say probably did better than we could have anticipated. >> so what does brittany want for christmas? >> honestly, just to be home. >> a gift delivered a few days early. brittany's doctors clearing her to go home with her sister. >> and i look forward to cooking again, because i love cooking. just really the little things. >> and that's going to wrap up this hour with our thanks to gabe and to brittany. i'm chris jansing. merry christmas to you and your loved ones. lindsey riser picks up the coverage right now. thanks, chris. good morning everybody. happy christmas eve to those who celebrate. i'm lindsey riser. for the second year in a row the world is gearing up for a christmas with coronavirus