“I came home for Thanksgiving and then I woke up in the hospital,” she recalled. “They had done whatever they needed to do to just get me stable. Then all the doctors came in, it was like six people: a pulmonologist, a rheumatologist, three pulmonary doctors, the ECMO specialist.”

“So, I knew something was wrong,” she continued. “They’re all like, ‘You need a transplant.’ I’m like, ‘Well, it sounds like you guys have a time. How long do I have to live?’ And they go, ‘A week.’ One week.”

Long—mom to 3-year-old Tatum with ex Raysean Hairston—couldn’t believe that was her prognosis.

“My jaw dropped. I was like, ‘That’s rude,'” she explained, adding that the specialists told her, “‘Hey, this is not a joke. You need to make a choice. You can either go to hospice or you can get these lungs.'”

While Long knew her health was declining, she didn’t expect her only viable choice to be an organ transplant.

“I knew for a really long time that something was wrong,” she said. “Every day, I’m spitting in cups and coughing all the time and trying to take all these medicines to just get through the day. With this industry, you’re always in people’s faces. I’m taking pictures and I’m huffing and puffing like I just ran a marathon.”

As the Grammy winner reflected on the effects that a lung transplant would have on her singing career, she focused on what really mattered to her in that moment.

“I look at my son and I think about how much more life that I have to live,” she reflected. “I think just quality of life was first, like I can’t sing if I’m not here.”

Long, however, proved that she was made to sing, making a pitch-perfect recovery.

“I’m doing fabulous,” she added. “I’m six months post-op. Actually, tomorrow is my last appointment for all things. Then, I have my vocal checkup in August because I had to have vocal surgery as well.”

For more celebs who’ve shared insight into their health journeys, keep reading.