‘Oxygen Girl’ back on RAGBRAI after lung transplant
By Beau Bowman
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MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (KCCI) — Barbara Heenan is back on the RAGBRAI route after missing last year’s ride while recovering from a lung transplant.
Heenan, known to many riders as the “Oxygen Girl,” became a familiar face on RAGBRAI while hauling oxygen tanks on the back of her bike. Diagnosed with scleroderma, she once thought needing oxygen meant her days on the ride were over.
“After I went on oxygen, I thought, ‘I’m never doing RAGBRAI again,’” Heenan said. “And my team said, ‘We will support you and you can do it with oxygen.’”
Heenan would switch out oxygen tanks every five miles as she continued riding across Iowa.
In December 2024, she received the lung transplant she had been waiting for. Still recovering in 2025, she was unable to take part in RAGBRAI last year.
“To not be on the bike last year was tough,” Heenan said.
Now, she is back — this time riding without the tanks that made her story so recognizable.
“It’s amazing to pass other people like, wow, I really am … I’m still alive, I’m still here,” Heenan said. “I am breathing, and what an amazing gift that is.”
This year, Heenan said her ride is about more than returning to the road. She is also using her story to raise awareness for organ donation and to encourage people to consider becoming donors.
She pointed to patients like her friend, Shelly, who is waiting for a kidney transplant, as a reminder of the need.
“Anybody can be a donor,” Heenan said. “And there’s a lot of people like Shelly that are out there waiting. The average time on the kidney donor list is about five years.”
Heenan said organ donation made it possible for her to return to the event she loves.
“There’s nothing better for the soul than to be here riding, and to make those lungs strong,” she said.
Heenan is raising awareness for the Iowa Donor Network. More information is available at IowaDonorNetwork.org.
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