Mayo Clinic is using a new weapon in the fight against diabetes-related kidney failure.

About 40 million people in the U.S. are living with diabetes. Most are able to manage the condition with medication and lifestyle changes.

But in some cases, diabetes, type 1 or type 2, can lead to more serious problems, including chronic kidney disease, even kidney failure, leaving patients with only one option – a pancreas-kidney transplant.

The transplant has been performed for decades. Now, surgeons at Mayo Clinic are performing the transplant robotically. 

Steve Canzoneri shares his life-changing story of becoming Mayo's first patient to undergo a robotic pancreas-kidney transplant.

Watch: Mayo Clinic announces first robotic pancreas-kidney transplant

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:45) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

Steve has battled diabetes most of his life. Despite treatment, diabetes still took a toll on his body and over time led to kidney failure.

"I've had some major setbacks with diabetic complications and other things like that," says Steve.

Diabetes is a disease where the body cannot properly control blood sugar levels. In most cases, the pancreas doesn't make enough insulin or the body can't use it effectively. This can damage organs, especially the kidneys, leaving some patients like Steve in need of a pancreas-kidney transplant.

Steve got the transplant he needed at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He also became Mayo's first patient to undergo the procedure robotically.

"Traditionally, this operation involves a very big incision, but with the minimally invasive approach, we're able to offer patients a smaller incision," says transplant surgeon Michelle Nguyen, M.D. "That potentially allows the patient to recover faster, have less pain, have less risk of wound complications and just be able to return to their normal life more quickly."

For the transplant, two surgeons sit at consoles guiding the robot with hand controls. The robot does not replace the surgeon – it enhances precision, accuracy and control. 

"The robot is actually just a tool that we use in the operating room that improves our magnifications, allows us to do a minimally invasive approach," says transplant surgeon Nitin Katariya, M.D. "We are in control the whole time."

Goal of transplant

The transplant is more than just a treatment.

"For many of these patients on insulin, we can try to cure both issues: the kidney disease and what may have caused their kidney disease in the first place, their diabetes. And so we look at kidney-pancreas transplant together as a way to attack both problems and solve both problems," adds Dr. Katariya.

Steve's dad noticed an improvement right away.

"He said to me that I finally sound like his son again," says Steve.

Steve was discharged less than a week after his transplant. 

"He’s recovering very smoothly. He is done with dialysis, his kidney function is pretty much normal now, he is off insulin," says Dr. Nguyen.

For Steve, that means a future free of limitations.

"To be able to live, and travel again, be able to live life, and having that renewed spirit of being able to just do whatever I want–whenever I want–and not be tied down somewhere," says Steve.

Not everyone is a candidate for the robotic pancreas-kidney transplant. Doctors recommend talking to your healthcare team to determine what options are best for you.

Related stories:

• Mayo Clinic surgeons perform first robotic-assisted kidney transplant in Minnesota
• How a pancreas transplant can cure diabetes
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Reasons to be a living kidney donor
• From donation to Kilimanjaro: Living kidney donor defies limits (VIDEO)

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DEAR MAYO CLINIC: A close friend of mine recently received an organ transplant, and another acquaintance is considering becoming a living donor. What is life really like after an organ transplant or donation?

ANSWER: Organ transplantation is often described as a second chance at life, and for many people, that description is accurate. The purpose of a transplant is to restore health for people with end-stage organ failure so they can return to a near-normal life.

Whether someone receives an organ or chooses to donate one, the experience doesn't end when surgery is over. Recovery, adjustment and follow-up care all become part of life afterward.

In the first few weeks after a transplant, patients are recovering from major surgery and healing from the incision. As they recover, they gradually become more active. Some patients say they notice improvements soon after surgery and begin to feel better early in recovery. Even so, the body still needs time to heal; many patients say they begin to feel fully back to normal within about six to eight weeks.

Before a transplant, people with organ failure often live with significant limitations that affect their energy, activity and daily routines. After recovery, many are able to return to work, travel, family life and other activities they previously had to give up.

After organ transplant

A transplant also comes with long-term medical responsibilities. One of the most important is taking anti-rejection medications, which help prevent the immune system from attacking the new organ.

Most transplant recipients take these medications every day, often twice daily. As with any medication, side effects are possible. However, many people tolerate these medications well and eventually incorporate them into their daily routines.

After a transplant, patients have several follow-up visits. As they stabilize, those visits become less frequent. Routine lab tests every few months help the care team watch for signs of rejection.

How long a transplanted organ lasts depends on the type of organ and how closely a patient follows the treatment plan. The liver, for example, has a remarkable ability to regenerate. Some people are still living with the same transplanted liver more than 40 years after surgery.

Kidneys don't regenerate the same way the liver does. On average, a kidney transplant from a living donor can last a little more than 20 years, although many last much longer. Taking medications as prescribed and keeping regular follow-up appointments help transplanted organs function well over time.

Beyond physical recovery, receiving an organ transplant can also bring emotional changes.

Many recipients express deep gratitude toward the donor who made their transplant possible. Some become more involved in raising awareness about organ donation and helping others understand the need for donors. For many recipients, being part of that community is meaningful.

At times, transplant recipients may struggle with complicated feelings, such as guilt or a sense of indebtedness to the donor. Healthcare teams often help patients understand that the donor's decision to give an organ is separate from the recipient's situation. Organ donation is ultimately a personal decision made by the donor or donor family.

Becoming a living donor

For people considering becoming living donors, recovery also varies depending on the type of donation. Kidney donation is the most common form of living organ donation and is often performed using minimally invasive techniques. Many donors stay in the hospital for one night and are encouraged to begin walking the same day as surgery.

While any surgery carries risks, studies suggest that most living donors go on to live healthy lives after they heal from the operation.

Ultimately, organ transplantation is possible because of the generosity of donors willing to help someone else in need. For people living with end-stage organ failure, a transplant can restore health and independence in ways they may not have imagined possible. For donors, the decision to give an organ offers the chance to save another person's life.

Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D., Transplant Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

The post Mayo Clinic Q&A: What is life like after an organ transplant or donation? appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I'd like to become a living kidney donor. What's involved and how do I prepare if I'd like to donate a kidney?

ANSWER: You've made a generous and meaningful decision to become a living kidney donor. More than 90,000 people in the U.S. are on a waiting list for a kidney transplant. 

Your donation offers life-changing benefits for someone with kidney failure. The kidney's role is to filter waste from the bloodstream. Receiving a kidney transplant frees the person from the rigorous schedule and restrictions of dialysis and allows them to participate more fully in life — working, raising a family, traveling and returning to the activities they value. 

Living donor kidney donation can be made in several ways:

• Directed. This means your kidney will go to someone you know — a family member, friend or co-worker. Blood relatives are usually the most compatible living kidney donors.
• Paired. If you aren't compatible with your intended recipient, you may participate in a kidney exchange so that both recipients receive compatible kidneys.
• Voucher (advanced donation). You can donate your kidney now through a national program and receive a voucher for a designated person. If that person needs a transplant in the future, the voucher helps prioritize them for a compatible living donor kidney through the exchange system
• Nondirected. Your kidney goes to someone you don't know, based on medical need and compatibility.

This is a big decision, and you want to go into it feeling well informed. Typically, when you decide to become a living donor, a living donor advocate will contact you, followed by the living donor team, who will explain the risks and benefits, the process, and provide care and support along your donation journey.

Throughout the entire process, you shouldn't feel pressured. If you change your mind, that's OK too. Also, your confidentiality as a donor is protected unless you choose otherwise.

The cost of the donor evaluation and testing is covered by the transplant center or the recipient's insurance. Living donors aren't financially responsible for medical testing related to donation.

Health history and criteria

You'll start your donation journey by filling out a health history form. Living donors are carefully selected based on health criteria. Factors such as chronic diseases, diabetes, previous cancer treatment, certain medications and anything that could affect the future health of your kidneys are considered. Weight, blood pressure and kidney function also are key factors.

If you meet these criteria, you'll undergo a comprehensive evaluation at a transplant center. This includes a physical examination, blood and urine testing, imaging of the kidneys, and consultations with a nephrologist and transplant surgeon. In many centers, this evaluation can be completed in a single day.

Once all this information is gathered, it will be presented at a multidisciplinary living donor meeting where the whole team — living donor advocate, nephrologist, surgeon, nutritionist, pharmacist and social worker — will evaluate the results to determine whether you're an eligible donor. If you're approved, then the donation process begins.

Surgery

The first step is to schedule surgery. The timing depends on whether you're making a directed, paired or voucher donation. The procedure is typically performed laparoscopically using minimally invasive surgical techniques. Most donors stay in the hospital for one night and return home the next day.

After surgery, temporary symptoms such as pain, nausea and constipation are common and managed by your care team. Heavy lifting and strenuous activity should be avoided for the first two weeks, and most donors return to their usual activities within four to six weeks.

Your remaining kidney needs time to adjust, too. To take on the extra work, it will undergo internal changes to improve its filtration capabilities. Typically, donors regain 75% of the function they had from two kidneys.

Follow-up care is an essential part of donation. Transplant centers monitor donors at six, 12, and 24 months after surgery to ensure your long-term health.

By choosing to become a living kidney donor, you offer someone not just a transplant but a renewed opportunity for life.

Pooja Budhiraja, M.B.B.S., Nephrology and Hypertension, Transplant Center, Mayo Clinic in Arizona 

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What began as a routine check for swelling quickly turned Randy Ramey's life upside down. When pneumonia and swelling were diagnosed as stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver, Randy, of Denton, Texas, struggled to understand how it was all connected. 

A series of visits with local specialists revealed a fatty liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH. For Randy, the diagnosis set off a cascade of life-or-death decisions that led his wife and him to Mayo Clinic, where he underwent a complex series of three lifesaving procedures, including a double coronary artery bypass surgery, liver transplant and, just months later, a kidney transplant. They found themselves navigating one health obstacle after another.

Randy is sharing his story to raise awareness during Donate Life Month.

Watch: 3 lifesaving surgeries and a second chance

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:47) is available for download at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"I was shocked. I mean, we didn't see that coming at all. It's right out of left field. You know, at that point, I wasn't physically sick. I was just swollen," says Randy.

When pneumonia and swelling became a diagnosis of stage 4 cirrhosis. Randy came to Mayo Clinic for a liver transplant evaluation. What doctors found made his situation far more urgent and far more complex.

"I went into the lab for a chemical stress test, but that's where they confirmed the two blockages. So what they ended up deciding, we're going to do two surgeries in one day. We're going to do your heart surgery — your double bypass — and we're going to do the liver. The worst I felt was the day before I got transplanted. The next morning when I woke up and had to do the walk, I still felt better than I did before the surgery," he says.

From the hospital window, Randy's wife, Elise, watched the mountains outside and saw their journey ahead — every peak, every valley — another procedure, another decision, another climb.

"We're going to have to climb every one of those mountain ranges," Elise says as she recalls their journey. "We're going to have to ascend and descend and ascend and descend every one of those mountain ranges."

"I'm getting rebuilt from the ground up," Randy says. "My kidney took off running, and it hasn't stopped. I don't know how you pay somebody for saving your life. I get emotional because you can't put it in words, but I've tried."

And with smiles as big as Texas, Randy and Elise are home after 27 weeks in Arizona. 

Related stories:

• From donation to Kilimanjaro: Living kidney donor defies limits (VIDEO)

The post 3 lifesaving surgeries and a second chance (VIDEO)  appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

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

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."

The post From donation to Kilimanjaro: Living kidney donor defies limits (VIDEO) appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

When surgery isn't an option, a liver transplant may be a lifesaving alternative. Mayo Clinic leads in this approach, combining expertise in oncology and transplantation to offer new hope for patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Dr. Kris Croome, a Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon, explains how expanding treatment options improves outcomes.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:05) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

Learning that colorectal cancer has spread to the liver can be overwhelming. Because the liver is the most common site of spread, affecting about half of patients, a liver transplant may offer hope when other treatments aren't an option.

"Liver transplant for colorectal metastases is an important evolution in transplant oncology and turns a historically palliative disease into one where cure is possible," says Dr. Croome.

It's a complex process that requires experts from multiple teams working together before transplant.

"Usually, it's at least six months of chemotherapy, and we would like to see that the tumors are responding and that we're not seeing any spread of disease anywhere else," he says. "We really want the disease to be isolated to the liver as the primary tumor. So the tumor in the colon needs to be removed ahead of time."

Liver transplants can significantly improve survival in advanced colorectal cancer, with five-year survival rates exceeding 70%.

"It's the care that patients receive leading up to that and afterward as well, and we really take pride in that," says Dr. Croome.

Related posts:

• Mayo Clinic Minute: Advancing colorectal cancer care through innovation and screening
• When a healthy life meets an unexpected colon cancer diagnosis
• Mayo Clinic Minute: AI advances help care teams find hard-to-see colon polyps

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This episode of "Tomorrow's Cure" explores how ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) breaks new ground as a procedure that evaluates lungs outside the body. This procedure could transform an unusable lung into a potential lifesaver.  

Mayo Clinic experts John Haney, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon, and Brandi Zofkie, associate vice president at Lung Bioengineering Inc., discuss increasing the viability of available lungs for transplant. The pair explains the differences in available organs like kidneys, livers and lungs. Dr. Haney says lung transplant lists have taken a different shape than other organs. "Currently, there are about 3,300 lung transplants done per year in this country, and each year, about 3,600 people get added to the list," Dr. Haney says.  

Lungs remain the hardest organ to place from a donor, in part because they are a sensitive organ with a tissue paper-thin membrane that can be disrupted by infection, fluid overload and many other challenges.  

The guests go on to discuss how lung perfusion works and how it carefully checks lungs outside the body to understand their capability. After receiving the lung from the organ procurement organization, the team uses the system to test how the lung distributes oxygen to a test fluid. Through bronchoscopy to see that the lung has stayed dry in the process and X-rays along the way, the team confirms how the lung could function.  

Also part of the transplant story is a real understanding of patient concerns, caregiver support and the wait for organs. With innovations like EVLP, the Mayo Clinic team is evolving the ability to evaluate organs and increase the availability of organs for transplant.  

The conversation highlights new perspectives in transplant and the cultural shift in transplant thinking that these opportunities bring, from patient care and time investment to the team's entire toolkit for evaluating available organs.  

The researchers talk with host Cathy Wurzer about the improvements in transplant and how methods like EVLP create new pathways for patient care.  

Listen to the latest episode of "Tomorrow's Cure" wherever you get your podcasts. You can explore the full library of episodes and guests on the show's page.  

Related post:

• (VIDEO) New lungs, new wife for Mayo Clinic transplant patient

The post Tomorrow’s Cure: Inside EVLP – a revolution for donor organs appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

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

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

"How do you thank someone for saving your life? I was dying and Mayo Clinic gave me hope." In 2025, Randy Ramey underwent a liver transplant combined with double coronary bypass surgery, followed by a kidney transplant last month. 

PHOENIX — The Transplant Center at Mayo Clinic in Arizona achieved the highest transplant volume in history in 2025 by performing 917 solid organ transplants in one year, according to data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Over the past five consecutive years, Mayo Clinic in Arizona has performed more adult solid organ transplants (heart, lung, kidney, pancreas and liver) than any other transplant center in the U.S. Mayo also previously received national recognition for performing the world's first total larynx transplant on a patient with active cancer.

As a result of this level of experience in Arizona, patients across the state and the Southwest have access to the best in transplant medicine close to home. Transplants are among the most complex procedures in modern medicine. Centers that perform them frequently are known to have lower complication rates and better outcomes because these highly skilled teams are developing the national best practices and know how to manage complications across the patient care journey.

"This milestone reflects the power of an integrated approach to transplant care and what's possible when extraordinary teams come together with a singular focus: getting the gift of life to people who need it most," says Bashar Aqel, M.D., transplant hepatologist and director of the Transplant Center at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. "Our teams in Arizona are supported by the depth of expertise across Mayo Clinic, allowing us to care for patients with extraordinary complexity while advancing transplant medicine as a whole."

Watch: Dr. Bashar Aqel discusses importance of organ donation

Journalists: Broadcast-quality soundbites are available in the downloads at the bottom of the posts. Please courtesy: "Bashar A. Aqel, M.D./Transplant/ Mayo Clinic."

Combined, Mayo Clinic Transplant Center, encompassing Arizona, Florida and Minnesota, is the undisputed leader in transplant medicine, delivering more lifesaving transplants than any other healthcare provider. Mayo Clinic's transplant volumes in 2025 show the demand for adult solid organ transplantation continues to grow as innovative techniques are expanding the pool of donors and hope for patients who are waiting.

"We are deeply grateful to the donors and donor families whose generosity makes this work possible and for the patients who trust us with their care," says Dr. Aqel.

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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.

About Mayo Clinic Transplant Center
Mayo Clinic Transplant Center is one of the largest and most comprehensive transplant programs in the world. With programs in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota, Mayo Clinic provides seamless, coordinated care across adult heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplantation. Guided by a commitment to innovation, research and education, Mayo Clinic Transplant Center delivers world-leading outcomes, compassionate patient care and advances that shape the future of transplantation worldwide.

Media contact:

• Carey Stanton, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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