An Arizona woman who is a Mayo Clinic retiree, along with several other fellow kidney donors, is proving that donating a kidney doesn't limit a person. In fact, donors can accomplish amazing feats, like climbing Africa's highest mountain. 

Watch: From donation to Kilimanjaro: Living kidney donor defies limits

Video by: Mike Clayton, Senior Communications Specialist, Mayo Clinic

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:07) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"My life has changed a lot. I am probably healthier now than I've ever been in my entire life — partly because of the climb that I'm doing, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with kidney donor athletes and 15 kidney donors all climbing," says Bethany Krom. "We will summit on World Kidney Day to show the world that those of us with one kidney can do anything that those with two kidneys can."

"This expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro is just an example of how donating a kidney does not need to limit you in any way," says Dr. Mikel Prieto, a Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon.

"Being able to donate to someone and change their lives is something that's really amazing and makes me feel good every day," Bethany says. "And knowing what a difference it made on my life inspires me to help others to think about doing the same thing."

Bethany donated her kidney as part of the paired exchange program. It's an option for donors and intended recipients who aren't a match for transplant. In paired exchange donation, two or more organ-recipient pairs trade donors so that each recipient gets an organ that is compatible.

"Thanks to paired exchange, as long as you have a donor — it doesn't matter what blood group, doesn't matter what age or anything — if they pass the test to be a donor, but they are not a good match for you, we can use that kidney for somebody else," says Dr. Prieto.

"You can donate totally independent of when your person is and just name your person — actually, five people you can name — and whoever needs it first will get it," Bethany says.

"Basically, what we need is a healthy person — somebody that is not putting themselves at risk for donating their kidney," Dr. Prieto says.

"I knew that the person I was donating for was a grandpa. And as it turns out, the person I donated to is a grandfather as well. So I'm a grandma who gave so two grandpas will be able to watch their grandchildren grow up. That, for me, is very special," Bethany says.

"Donating a kidney is basically changing somebody's life: 'I'm going to help you. I'm going to change your life for the better,'" says Dr. Prieto.

And Bethany says, in her case, it's not just the recipient's life that was changed.

"For me, donation enhanced my life because I am more careful about how I take care of my body. And then I am exercising and eating good food," she says. "So I am healthier and doing all the things I did before and more, like climbing mountains."

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Both men are alive today thanks to an extremely rare and complex surgery – a triple-organ transplant, including a heart, liver and kidney simultaneously.

Watch: Rare transplant turns strangers into friends

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:52) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

Tony's story

Tony had always considered himself a healthy guy. You'd often find him out on the basketball court, playing with family and friends or just shooting hoops by himself.

Then, at 50 years old, Tony had to stop playing basketball. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Over the next decade, Tony underwent one procedure after another. Still, his health continued to decline.

Doctors told Tony there was only one option left – a triple-organ transplant, including a heart, liver and kidney. The transplant is so rare and complex that it is performed at only a limited number of hospitals.

Tony turned to Mayo Clinic in Arizona, where he found hope and a friend who would become his inspiration.

Hope comes calling

In 2025, Tony was admitted to Mayo Clinic. On the day of his triple-organ transplant, just hours before his surgery, Tony got an unexpected phone call.

"You're going to be just fine. You've got the best doctors and nurses," said Doyle, who was speaking from firsthand experience. Doyle is Arizona's first patient to undergo a triple-organ transplant, including a heart, liver and kidney.

Doyle called Tony to offer support and encouragement.

"You're going to feel a hundred percent better than you do today. I hurt, but I could tell a difference immediately," said Doyle, calling from his home in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. In 2022, Doyle traveled with his wife Billie to Arizona to undergo the milestone triple-organ transplant.

The phone call was just what Tony needed to hear.

"It helped a lot talking to somebody who has gone through what I was going through," says Tony. "Every day I thought if Doyle did it, I can too. He was my inspiration."

Billie also spoke with Carrie, Tony's wife, to share her insight on being a caregiver. "She told me I could call her 24 hours a day," says Carrie. "I called her quite a bit. It was so helpful to speak with someone who had already been through this."

The families stayed in close contact throughout Tony's transplant journey.

Even though the two men had never met, Doyle says he didn't think twice about reaching out to Tony.

"Calling Tony was the least I could do to help Tony to understand what he's going to do and what he's got to do," says Doyle.

Mayo Clinic – a leader in triple-organ transplantation

Mayo Clinic also performs triple-organ transplants in Rochester, Minnesota.

As of February 2026, Mayo Clinic has performed 13 triple-organ transplants, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

In 2024, Mayo Clinic in Rochester performed a highly complex and rare triple transplant, including a heart, lungs and kidney.

The patient, Mike Loven, had battled serious health problems since childhood. He had three open-heart surgeries by the time he reached his teens. Mike lives in Coon Rapids, Minnesota with his wife and two daughters.

Like Tony and Doyle, doctors told Mike a triple-organ transplant was his only chance for survival.

The triple transplant was a success. "I'm feeling better than I have in years," says Mike. "I'm walking up to two miles on the treadmill. I'm back to working. I feel great."

Strangers no more

It's been nine months since Tony's triple-organ transplant. Doctors still closely monitor his progress, but he's back at home, enjoying time with family and friends.

Tony is even slowly making his way back to the basketball court.

Doyle and Billie made a special trip Arizona to meet their new friends in person.

"We share such a special bond," says Billie. "I know we'll be friends forever."

Though Mike has not met Tony and Doyle, the three begin each new day the same way – with deep gratitude for the gift of life.

"I hear my heart beat everyday and remember my donor, I'm so grateful. Thank you to my donor and donor family," says Tony. "Every day is a miracle day."

Related stories:

• Harnessing the power of innovation and a patient's will to survive
• A rare cancer. A rare weapon. Curtis Jackson's inspiring story of survival
• Breathing easy thanks to the gift of life and a new lung transplant program at Mayo Clinic in Arizona
• Breaking the silence: Total larynx transplant on a patient with active cancer
• Bridging the transplant gap for indigenous healthcare

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A 27-year-old Arizona man now has new lungs and a wife after holding an impromptu wedding ceremony in a Mayo Clinic hospital ICU room — just days before undergoing double-lung transplant surgery.

Watch: New lungs, new wife for Mayo Clinic transplant patient

Edited by: Kevin Sullivan, Senior Communications Specialist, Mayo Clinic

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (3:47) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"I had always noticed that, despite being an athlete for my entire life, I never really had the same cardio endurance as my peers. And then later on in my life, it would come to light that I actually had this disease called PPFE, or pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis, a rare form of lung disease," says Mateo Franco, who lives in Mesa, Arizona.

"By July of 2025, I had to go back into Mayo Clinic in Phoenix because my breathing and my shortness of breath, my fatigue were at an all-time high. That's when they decided that lung transplant was the only viable route," he says. "They put me on ECMO in Phoenix. I got flown on a private medical jet to Rochester."

Dr. Sahar Saddoughi is a lung transplant surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She performed Mateo's double-lung transplant.

"A patient on ECMO support is in critical condition. For Mateo, that was keeping him alive, and his only way to get disconnected from the ECMO machine would be to undergo lung transplantation," says Dr. Saddoughi.

Mateo's transplant surgery would be even more challenging because he had pectus excavatum, a condition in which the breastbone is sunken into the chest.

"I had a surgery to correct that in 2023, and they put two metal bars into my chest to correct the shape of my rib cage in my chest wall. That was one big reason why other hospitals had denied me for the lung transplant because it was too complex to have to deal with those bars, plus putting in new lungs," Mateo says. "I really don't think another hospital could have done what Mayo Clinic did."

"That's the beauty of Mayo Clinic. We take on these types of challenging cases, knowing there is a team of experts to care for these patients," says Dr. Saddoughi. "Obviously, there were certain intricacies of the case that made his case particularly difficult. First, he was very sick and inpatient out in Arizona. Two, he had multiple previous surgeries on his chest and right lung, which makes lung transplant surgery more challenging. And then, three, was his chest deformity and reconstruction of this post-lung transplant to allow enough space for his heart, especially the right ventricle." 

Mateo's college sweetheart, Isabella, was at his side in the ICU at the hospital as he waited for donor lungs to become available. A marriage proposal, followed by a wedding at Mayo, soon became a reality.

"We had been together for five-plus years. So, you know, staring down the barrel of a very serious surgery, we figured we wanted to go through that as husband and wife," Mateo says. "The night nurses came in early for their shifts, and they decorated this atrium for us as a little impromptu wedding chapel. They made these cute little rings out of beads. It's pretty much like we eloped. You know, not quite a chapel in Vegas, but it's the next best thing. We got married on July 26, and the transplant happened on July 31."

Dr. Saddoughi says the complexity of Mateo's case necessitated the involvement of a multidisciplinary team, both in an out of the operating room, including the Transplant team, Thoracic Surgery, Plastic Surgery, and Vascular Surgery.  

"We were in the operating room at least eight times during a two-week period," says Dr. Saddoughi. "This is the magic, I would say, of Mayo Clinic, truly in this case, because it's beyond one surgeon or one part of a team. It really involved a huge multidisciplinary team and also the support from Mayo Clinic in Arizona to safely get him here and to care for Mateo postoperatively, as well." 

"Everyone at Mayo Clinic, the care I got was just unparalleled. It was amazing. I know that the job is not easy, but they make it seem easy. They're so good at what they do," Mateo says.

"He had fortitude. He had the fight in him to get through all of this, and that's a big part of Mateo's success," says Dr. Saddoughi.

Three months after his double-lung transplant, Mateo left the care of Mayo Clinic in Rochester as a newlywed and returned home, where he continues to receive follow-up care at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

"For the first couple weeks, I would keep getting surprised by how deep I was able to breathe. Being able to do the dishes without getting tired, do the laundry — it's just little things, and it just feels incredible," Mateo says. "I would like to thank the donor and the donor's family. They gave me another chance at life, and that's something that I'll forever be grateful for."

"To know that he has that bright future that we wanted for him — that the plan that we tried to execute worked out. I mean, what better joy?" says Dr. Saddoughi.

"Dr. Saddoughi is a complete lifesaver, the way she, you know, took a chance on something that other hospitals, other doctors, said, 'No, we can't do this.' She said, 'Yeah, watch me.' And she nailed it. She knocked it out of the park," Mateo says.

And he's looking forward to enjoying his new life as a married man.

"Now that I can really function, the world's our oyster. We can do anything," Mateo says.

The post (VIDEO) New lungs, new wife for Mayo Clinic transplant patient appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Randy McKnight makes award-winning barbecue, runs marathons and owns a small business. He puts his heart into everything he does — just not the heart he had when he was born.

Randy was among the first 10 heart transplant recipients at Mayo Clinic in Florida, a program that is now marking its 25^th anniversary.

Watch: 'Live for today': Looking at life nearly 25 years after a heart transplant

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"It was in the summer of 1998," Randy says. "We were having a lot of fires in Jacksonville along I-95, and (I was) having a hard time breathing."

Randy was 35 years old when his care team in Jacksonville, Florida, discovered he had an enlarged heart.

"I was in full-blown heart failure with fluid in my lungs," Randy says. "(My doctor) basically said, 'You need a heart transplant.' I couldn't believe it."

Randy was placed on the transplant list in Rochester, Minnesota, and spent almost three years traveling back and forth for appointments, waiting for a heart.

"My son must have been 8 or 9, and I knew that I had to survive to help raise him and support him," Randy says.

Then, in 2001, Mayo Clinic started a heart transplant program in Jacksonville, which gave Randy a chance to be closer to home.

"I met Dr. Yip when the program first started, and from day one, he and I have connected," Randy says. "I've always felt like I've had a personal connection with the team here, and it just made the whole process so much easier."

After listing and waiting several more months, the day finally came.

"I had my heart transplant on May 27, 2002," Randy says.

"You have someone who is literally on death's doorstep to be able to live a full, healthy life, back to things that they want to do, going back to work, raising their children, going to graduations, going to weddings, raising their grandchildren. That is satisfying," says Dr. Daniel Yip, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist who helped start the heart transplant program in Florida.

Over the last quarter century, Dr. Yip has seen progress in heart transplantation — from advances in medications to new options for patients with the greatest need.

"Being able to expand the donor pool using organs that, in the past, we would say maybe we shouldn't think about using them, but knowing with time, with research, with innovation, with technology, to be able to use these organs," Dr. Yip says. "And now we're able to go a lot farther, even across the country, to be able to get the right heart for a patient. I think that's the biggest thing — to be able to serve patients who need our help."

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), nearly 4,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a heart transplant.

Randy is grateful for the years he's been given, and he's made it his mission to help others.

"My quality of life before transplant — being sick, being limited — was really hard because I'm go, go all the time," Randy says. "Just learn to live each day for today, live every day for today and appreciate life."

The post (VIDEO) ‘Live for today’: Looking at life nearly 25 years after a heart transplant appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

With a failing heart and little hope of healing, Alan Lewis sunk into depression, gaining 330 pounds. After he came to Mayo, bariatric surgery enabled the transplant he'd sought for so many years.   

Alan Lewis was lying on the floor — the only position that eased his discomfort — watching a football game. When a Mayo Clinic commercial came on, the tagline seemed to leap off the screen.

"You know where to go."

With heart failure sapping his strength, Alan had begun to doubt there was an "other side" to his condition. At age 41, he'd already lived a decade with a poorly pumping heart, diagnosed during a hospital visit for a broken ankle. 

For years, Alan had relied on a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, to help his heart circulate blood through his body. After the first one malfunctioned, he received a second device in 2018.

What Alan really needed was a new heart.

Even after bariatric surgery helped him lose weight, he still wasn't added to the transplant list. "When we'd ask about transplant, our care team would just say, 'Oh, he's doing fine. Just keep doing what you're doing,'" says his wife, Vida.

As months became years, Alan's hope of healing waned. His mental health spiraled.

"I was a nervous wreck," he recalls. "What if the LVAD malfunctioned? What if there was a power failure? I was scared to go places, worried about backup batteries. I was in my head 24/7. It was torture."

Deeply depressed, Alan gained 330 pounds during the pandemic, reversing his previous weight loss. Without a clear path forward, he resigned himself to dying.

Then, in 2022, Alan saw the Mayo commercial — and Vida saw an opportunity. She made the decision for them. They were going to Rochester.

A journey toward hope

After driving from Chicago, weak and rapidly declining, Alan sought help from Mayo Clinic.

There, Vida's long-simmering concern was confirmed —a tough-to-kill bacteria had infected the wiring that linked his LVAD to its external battery. The battery for his defibrillator was also dead, leaving him vulnerable to potentially deadly arrhythmias.

Right away, Alan received IV antibiotics, a new defibrillator and an introduction to the transplant team. "Day one, they spoke of transplant," says Vida. "I was shocked."

At his first follow-up visit, Sarah Schettle, a physician assistant on the LVAD team, could see the emotional strain of all that Alan and Vida had been through. "There was a lot of hesitancy — 'Will Mayo accept us?'" she recalls. "I also remember the hopefulness, the desire to know what was possible here."

Recognizing that Alan needed complex, multidisciplinary care, the team began formulating a plan.

Within two weeks, the couple relocated to Rochester — and just one year into marriage, Vida unflinchingly pivoted to her new role as caregiver.

"It was embedded in me to love as hard and as much as you can," she says.

Vida vowed to do that for Alan.

Preparing for tomorrow

The team said Alan needed to adopt a healthier lifestyle before a second bariatric surgery — a necessary step toward transplant. So Vida signed them up for a gym. She walked next to him on a treadmill, urging him on. She made healthy meals. She pored over the lengthy care plan, still shocked that they had one.    

"Back home, no one gave us clear answers. How long would he have the LVAD? Could he ever get a transplant?" she says. "At Mayo, we never experienced that. The focus was always on getting him well enough for a transplant, like he deserved to be transplanted."

Still, there was fear that the new heart wouldn’t happen. Sensing Alan's struggle, Adrian da Silva de Abreu, M.D., Ph.D., one of his cardiologists, spent an hour at his bedside, mostly listening.

"I'd never seen a doctor take that time," says Alan. "I put it all out there, and I could tell he was hearing me."

Peace replaced his once-crippling anxiety. At last, he knew his team wanted what was best for him. As Vida says, "They had a vision. They had a plan. It was healthcare like I've never seen before."

A risk with great reward

Alan's first bariatric surgery shrunk his stomach to the size of a banana.

To help him lose the weight he'd regained, Omar Ghanem, M.D., a bariatric surgeon, planned to reroute part of Alan's small intestine so food would bypass a long segment of his bowel. Known as a modified duodenal switch, this would reduce how many calories and nutrients he absorbed and alter the secretion of hunger-related hormones.

Dr. Ghanem knew the already complex surgery would be even more challenging in Alan's case.  

With his heart essentially outside his body, monitoring — and maintaining — his vitals would be difficult. Blood thinners to prevent clots in his LVAD would also elevate his risk of bleeding. Then there was the looming infection, suppressed but still active, only curable if the LVAD was removed.  

Seven Mayo Clinic teams — from Infectious Diseases to Anesthesiology — worked together to help Alan beat the odds.

"Where else do you have all this expertise in one place? I don't think anything like this can be done outside of a place like Mayo," says Dr. Ghanem. "Here we're able to safely push the limits."

Knowing this path was his best chance at healing, Alan and Vida agreed to go forward.

Despite its complexity, the revision was a success, and so was the recovery. Within months, Alan lost enough weight to qualify for a heart. He was finally on the transplant list.  

Moving forward at last

Six weeks later, a middle-of-the-night call brought Alan back to Mayo Clinic.

After years of heart failure, two LVADs, two bariatric surgeries, dozens of pounds lost and hundreds of tears shed, Alan was receiving another chance at life. He was receiving a new heart.

Less than five hours after opening his chest, Philip Spencer, M.D., a cardiovascular and transplant surgeon, brought Alan to the "other side" of heart failure — that place he'd once thought didn't exist.  

"We had an infection to deal with. And there was scarring within his chest," says Dr. Spencer. "But, once the LVAD was out, it went very well."  

IV steroids enabled his body to accept the organ, and with the LVAD out, his infection could finally clear. Even from his hospital bed, Alan felt his confidence returning.

"I'd had this yoke on me. I couldn't move without the LVAD. I couldn't bathe without it. I couldn't eat without it. It was always present," he says. "Mentally, I'd been down so long. Now I had freedom."

For the first time in years, there were no wires to wrestle with. There was no battery to worry about.

Alan could be himself again.

A new life for Alan

With Alan's heart fully functioning, the couple is now back in Chicago, enjoying a renewed zeal for life.

For Alan, that means showing his gratitude for everyone who supported him — his family, his close friends and, of course, Vida. Every day, he focuses on caring for her in every way possible.  

"When I wake up, I start catering to her," he says. "She had to cook and clean. She helped bathe me and put on my shoes and socks. It's a joy for me to be able to do things for her now."

During the night, Alan sometimes reaches across the mattress, making sure Vida is still there, even though he knows she always will be. She is his safe person, and Mayo Clinic is the safe place that showed him what healthcare should be.

Both their hearts remain in Minnesota, where hope first began to beat, strong and steady, in Alan's chest. The tagline from a football game ad — "You know where to go" — still feels like a summons.

"To have so many people involved in your care, and each one be a beautiful experience, is so rare," says Vida. "God has blessed him, and Mayo has been there for him. We want to move back because Rochester feels like home, you know?"

Related story:

• New year, new focus on health: Mayo Clinic expert highlights effective treatment options for obesity

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For Loren Vinal, the holidays have always carried a gentle kind of magic. Loren's hometown of Corning, New York, and his winters on Jekyll Island, Georgia, offered two peaceful places where music and community shaped his daily life.

In late 2017, everything changed. After months of worsening shortness of breath and repeated misdiagnoses, Loren — a guitarist with 40 years of experience — flew to Nashville, Tennessee, to play a show with a friend. Loren ended up in the emergency department before he could play — diagnosed with advanced heart failure. He remembers the shock of that moment. 

"Out of the blue, my life completely shifted," Loren says. 

After receiving that diagnosis, Loren spent 13 days in the hospital in Nashville. Once stable, he returned to upstate New York and continued care at a local hospital where specialists determined he needed a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). The LVAD is a mechanical pump that supports the heart by helping the left ventricle circulate blood throughout the body.  

After about seven years with the LVAD, new complications in 2024 meant it was time to revisit transplant. By then, Lorena already knew about Mayo Clinic in Florida. Years earlier, he had been transferred there from a nearby hospital while wintering on Jekyll Island because smaller hospitals were not equipped to manage patients with the LVAD.

Loren never forgot the care he received then. 

"I was so impressed with the dedication and professionalism at Mayo Clinic," Loren says. 

When he learned he was a strong candidate for heart transplant, he says the decision to pursue care at Mayo Clinic felt right. 

Heart transplant

Loren received his first heart transplant on July 1, 2024. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Loren would need another new heart, and he was relisted on the transplant waiting list in May 2025. He spent nine and a half weeks waiting in the hospital before receiving his second heart transplant on July 19, 2025. 

Waiting was difficult, but he felt supported at every turn. Today, Loren shares that he exercises and plays music again — feeling stronger with each passing day.  

"A good working heart changes everything," Loren says. 

Loren speaks openly about the gratitude he feels toward his donors who gave him the incredible gift of life. "It is the greatest gift you can bestow on another human," he says. 

Throughout his journey, Loren learned more about the scope of Mayo Clinic's commitment to transplantation. As one of the largest and most comprehensive transplant programs in the world, Mayo Clinic Transplant Center provides seamless care across heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas and bone marrow transplantation for both adults and children. 

The transplant center teams in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota work together to advance innovation, research and education, shaping the future of transplantation worldwide. 

Mayo Clinic also leads research in organ preservation, living donation and regenerative medicine, guided by a vision that no patient should die while waiting for a transplant. These advances have helped expand access for patients with complex needs and support successful outcomes like Loren's. 

"Loren showed extraordinary resilience," says Dr. Daniel Yip, transplant cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida. "Even in the face of profound challenges, he remained engaged and hopeful. Our team was committed to walking every step of this with him."  

As Loren looks toward the new year with a new heart, he feels a deeper joy in the moments he once took for granted: a strong, steady heartbeat; music returning to his fingertips; and time with the people he loves.

"I sincerely thank everyone involved, and I hope to continue to pay it forward," Loren says. 

His story now carries its own quiet holiday light — hope renewed, life restored and gratitude that stretches far beyond the season.  

The post New heart helps Loren Vinal return to music, life he loves appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A multidisciplinary surgical team at Mayo Clinic has successfully treated an exceptionally rare and life-threatening cancer that invaded a patient's heart and airway. The procedure combined advanced cardiac surgery with complex airway reconstruction and represents a significant achievement in modern cancer care. 

Tami Channel's thyroid cancer was so advanced that her family had begun planning hospice care. The tumor had severely compromised her airway and had encased her carotid artery and jugular vein, two of the body's most vital blood vessels.  

Primary cancers of the heart are extremely rare. Most tumors that appear in the heart are benign, and malignant cardiac tumors such as sarcomas account for only a small fraction of all cancers. Airway tumors involving the throat or trachea are also uncommon and often detected late because early symptoms can resemble routine respiratory issues. When a malignant growth extends into both the heart and the airway, the risks multiply quickly because the tumor can narrow or block breathing passages and interfere with the heart's ability to function. 

Faced with a tumor that had grown into vital structures and left the patient's airway nearly the width of a toothpick, the care team, including Mabel Ryder, M.D., a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, and Eric Moore, M.D., a Mayo Clinic head and neck surgeon, recognized that conventional treatment would not be enough. Tami needed a highly complex surgery — and it needed to happen quickly. As a matter of priority, Tami would undergo an unscheduled thoracotomy and bypass, an emergency open-chest operation that requires opening the chest cavity, supporting circulation through a heart-lung machine, and working around critical airways and blood vessels. Few hospitals could coordinate such a demanding procedure so quickly. 

"We were able to make it happen because it needed to be done," Dr. Moore says. "That's the Mayo difference." 

The operating room reflected Mayo's integrated model: anesthesiology, perfusion, bronchoscopy, cardiothoracic surgery, and head and neck surgery, with each discipline contributing seamlessly. 

"It felt like a choreographed ballet," Dr. Moore says. "This kind of multidisciplinary precision doesn't just happen — it's the Mayo model in action." 

During the same operation, specialists reconstructed the airway to restore safe breathing. Procedures of this complexity rely on close coordination among cardiac surgeons, thoracic and airway surgeons, ear, nose and throat specialists, anesthesiologists, oncologists, and critical care teams. Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center experts are uniquely positioned to manage these cases because they can move quickly from diagnosis to complex surgery and recovery. 

This successful intervention shows what is possible when specialists collaborate on rare cancers that cross organ systems.  

### 

About Mayo Clinic  
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news. 

About Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center   
Designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute, Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center is defining the cancer center of the future, focused on delivering the world's most exceptional patient-centered cancer care for everyone. At Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, a culture of innovation and collaboration is driving research breakthroughs in cancer detection, prevention and treatment to change lives.  

Media contact:  

• Julie Ferris-Tillman, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu  

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Barbara Brown was working in New York City when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred. Exposure to toxins led to years of struggling to breathe and searching for answers.

Barbara's journey led her to Mayo Clinic and, ultimately, a life-changing double-lung transplant. With renewed strength, Barbara shares what drives her to educate others about transplants.

Watch: Double-lung transplant inspires mom to educate and support others

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (2:14) is in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"I was meeting my girlfriends for breakfast," Barbara says. "She actually worked in the World Trade Center. When the actual plane hit the tower, I wasn't right up on the towers, but I was where you could see it."

What followed that day would change Barbara's health and life forever.

"All of this stuff that was in your lungs," Barbara recalls.

Over time, Brown started to notice changes in her health. Then, a pivotal moment in 2006 while being a mom to an active 2-year-old girl.

"(My daughter) jumped up in my arms, and I kind of fell backward. And I fell down, and I couldn't hold her," Barbara says. "That was the first big thing with my lungs."

Barbara was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, where inflammation and scarring make it difficult to breathe. Doctors explained that someday she would need a lung transplant.

"I looked at this little girl that I had, and I said, 'You know, if I'm going to fight, I'm going to fight for her, you know,'" Barbara says. "And so that's what I chose to do."

Barbara spent much of the next decade searching for a transplant program that would be the right fit. She traveled across the country speaking with care teams and taking evaluations — all while her lungs grew weaker. Then, Mayo Clinic entered her life.

"Barbara came through our doors, referred to us from an outside provider, with a disease that was fairly advanced," Dr. Tathagat Narula, a Mayo Clinic transplant pulmonologist, says. "She was on a lot of oxygen, very, very sick."

After qualifying for a double-lung transplant and spending time on the waiting list, Barbara got the call in April 2017.

"It's the scariest thing in the world because now you're looking at everybody and you're like, 'This is it!'" Barbara says. "'This is really it!'"

Recovery would be long, but after physical therapy to regain her strength, Barbara was breathing without assistance and ready to pick up where her life had paused. The journey has also inspired her to share her story and dispel misconceptions about transplant.

"I decided that I was going to really write about my experience," Barbara says. "If I can do something to get the information out there, and I said, 'I'm going to maybe attempt at it this way.'"

"In Barbara's case, she has had this opportunity to see her daughter grow up, go to college," Dr. Narula says. " Barbara is writing a book to share her journey, to share her story with the wider audience. What more can you ask for?"

Eight and a half years after transplant, she's happy and excited for her next chapter.

"Do I look like someone who's been through a double-lung transplant? No, but what does someone look like? If someone says I look like a happy person, then that's what I would prefer looking like," Barbara says.

Related stories:

• Mayo Clinic’s transplant center in Florida performs 10,000th
• Expert alert: 5 reasons more diverse organ donors are needed

The post (VIDEO) Double-lung transplant inspires mom to educate and support others appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

When Charnel Golis-Tabag picked up her sister from the airport in her home state of Hawaii, she didn't expect to hear that her sister's kidney function had dropped below 11%. That moment changed everything. "She told me she was on the transplant list," Charnel recalls. "Two days later, I called Mayo Clinic to start the living kidney donation process."

Charnel had seen too many family members endure the exhausting cycle of dialysis — three times a week, hours at a time. "They were tired, their veins were shot, they couldn't carry their grandchildren," she says. "I didn't want that for my sister."   

The power of living donation

"Living donor kidneys are great options for people waiting for a transplant," says Dr. Carrie Jadlowiec, surgical director of Kidney Transplant at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. "They have a shorter waiting period, fewer complications, and the kidneys function longer than deceased donor kidneys."

For Charnel, knowing that her sister could live a longer, healthier life with a living kidney solidified her decision to donate. Despite her family's concerns for her own health, she was committed. "I believe we need to start with educating young Native Hawaiian people about living a healthier lifestyle," she says. "In our ohana community, we can reclaim our health," she says.  

A donor chain of hope

For Michelle Gabriel, her younger sister's diagnosis was a turning point. "We asked each other, 'Can we do this? Will I be a match? What will it cost?' There were lots of questions and no answers at first," Michelle says.

She turned to Mayo Clinic, the National Kidney Foundation and the National Donate Life Registry. "These resources are fantastic and easily available online. Beyond online, our transplant coordinators walk patients through every step of the process," explains Dr. Ty Diwan, transplant surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "We connect with patients from anywhere in the world via the portal and virtual appointments."

Michelle wasn't a match to her sister, but that didn't stop her. She joined a paired exchange program, creating a donor chain that benefited multiple families. No longer a question but a statement, "We can do this," became the sisters' ongoing mantra. "From that moment, we were all in. I saw the bigger picture: three people received kidneys that day," says Michelle.  

A husband's promise

For Albert Harris, June 20, 2024, is a date he'll never forget — it's the day he donated his kidney to his wife, making her "officially his other half," he jokes. "When she got sick, we got sick. I understood the marital vows, in sickness and in health. She's my partner in everything, and I look forward to having her around for a very long time."

Though friends and family worried about his health, Mayo Clinic's transplant team provided the reassurance he needed. He learned he could return to his normal life within weeks and give his wife the chance at a healthier, longer life.

Watch video: Donors who give hope and healing

Bridging the gap

Nearly 60% of people on transplant waiting lists come from minority communities, while about 30% of donors are people of color. This gap makes awareness and education critical — especially during Minority Living Donor Awareness Month, which highlights the need for diverse donors to help reduce disparities in transplant access. 

"Blood types and certain HLA, or antibodies, tend to correlate with various ethnic groups," says Dr. Shennen Mao, transplant surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Florida. "It is not directly related to a particular minority group; however, organs will end up with someone of a similar background because the better matched an organ is, the more longevity that organ has."

A shared legacy of hope

For Albert, Charnel and Michelle, living kidney donation was about more than surgery; it was about love, family and community. "It wasn't just a gift to my sister," Charnel says. "It was a gift to our entire family."

"You become someone's miracle," Michelle adds. "That person is someone's parent, sibling, friend. You give hope to everyone who loves them."

In most states, signing up to be a donor after death can be done online or when registering for a driver's license or identification card. For information on living donation, view Mayo Clinic's Living Donor Toolkit, contact the recipient's care team, or a transplant center. 

Comprehensive care at Mayo Clinic

Living kidney donation is a safe, medically supported procedure, with most donors resuming their lives within weeks. Mayo Clinic provides end-to-end care, including:

• Expert evaluation and surgery from leading transplant specialists.
• Financial coordinators to assist with travel, lodging and lost wages.
• Virtual consultations and access to resources anywhere in the world.
• Support and follow-up care for living donors.

Related posts:

• Mayo Clinic Minute: Why diverse organ donors are needed
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Become an organ donor and save lives

The post A living legacy: Donors who give hope and healing appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — While immunosuppressive medications are critical to prevent rejection of transplant organs, they also come with plenty of downsides. They can cause harsh side effects, like headaches and tremors, and increase the risk for infection and cancer. But what if there was a way to prevent organ rejection without using these medications?

That goal fuels the work of Mark Stegall, M.D., a longtime Mayo Clinic transplant researcher. He leads a team of researchers developing pioneering therapies to prevent organ rejection without the need for immunosuppression. A recently published study in the American Journal of Transplantation is offering hope for patients.

Using stem cells to prevent organ rejection

Mayo Clinic participated in the multisite phase 3 clinical trial detailed in the study. The goal was to see whether people who simultaneously received both a kidney and stem cell transplant from a closely matched sibling could discontinue all immunosuppressive medications after a year. The results were promising. The study found that 75% of participants were able to stop taking the medication for more than two years. At Mayo Clinic, three patients participated, with two off immunosuppression medications for over three years and one on a low dose.

"I've been involved in transplant research for more than 30 years, and we've done quite a few amazing things. But in the scheme of things, this research is right at the very top. It's been a goal — to be able to safely get transplant recipients off immunosuppression — for longer than I've been doing this. We're very excited about it," says Dr. Stegall, a co-author of the study.

The research being done across Mayo Clinic is part of a growing trend in transplant to explore ways to use cellular therapies to prevent organ rejection. It is also a cornerstone of Mayo Clinic's Transforming Transplant Initiative, which has the bold goal of ensuring everyone who wants a transplant can get one and to make transplants more successful.

To qualify for the clinical trial, the transplant recipients and donors needed to be siblings whose tissue types closely matched. The donor agreed to donate their stem cells in addition to their kidney to their sibling. The recipient receives the transplant, undergoes radiation and then receives the stem cell transplant. The goal was to wean recipients off immunosuppression medication after a year.

'Almost like the transplant didn't happen'

For Minnesota native Mark Welter, the results have been better than he imagined. Four years ago, he needed a kidney transplant due to polycystic kidney disease, an inherited condition that causes cysts to grow on the kidneys. The Mayo Clinic patient volunteered to be a part of the clinical trial in hopes of not having to worry about immunosuppression medication the rest of his life. His younger sister Cindy Kendall immediately stepped forward to donate a kidney and her stem cells to help her brother.

"Being able to see him get off those medications has been amazing," Cindy says. "He just gets to live his life to the fullest. He has been able to see both of his daughters get married and meet his grandchildren."

Watch: Inteview with Mark Welter, Cindy Kendall and Dr. Mark Stegall

Mark has not taken immunosuppression medication for more than three years.

"I feel fantastic. I actually feel like I did before the transplant, which has been the greatest thing," Mark says. "It's almost like the transplant didn't happen."

There is still plenty of work to be done to advance this research. This clinical trial only involved siblings with closely matching tissue types. Researchers want to know if stem cell transplants can prevent rejection in recipients paired with a less closely matched donor.

"Even in closely matched siblings, immunosuppression is needed lifelong. We have seen stopping medications even at eight to 10 years post-transplant leads to rejection. Our goal is to find ways to reduce or stop immunosuppressive medications after transplant so patients can have longer lasting kidneys with fewer side effects," says Andrew Bentall, M.B., Ch.B., M.D., a Mayo Clinic transplant nephrologist.

Journalists: Press kit, including b-roll, photos and interviews are available here. Clinical trial participants and Mayo researchers are available for interviews. Please contact newsbureau@mayo.edu to schedule.

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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contact:

• Kelley Luckstein, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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