New organs, new friends
CHICAGO — A suburban Detroit woman and a Chicago man are recovering in hospital here following rare triple transplant surgeries that gave them the healthy heart, liver and kidney each needed — and a new friendship they never expected.
University of Chicago
Medicine doctors announced they successfully completed the triple organ transplants on Sarah McPharlin, 29, of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., and Daru Smith, 29, of Chicago, within 30 hours of one another.
McPharlin had two transplants cancelled earlier in the year, pushing her surgery back.
Just eight minutes after a medical team finished
Smith’s liver transplant on Dec. 20, hospital staff learned that donor organs were available for McPharlin. Smith, who finished surgery that day, became only the 16th person in the U.S. to undergo a heart-liver-kidney transplant and hours later on Dec. 21 McPharlin became the 17th. Each surgery required a 22-person team, with some staffers working on both patients.
Smith and McPharlin, who had her first heart transplant at the age of 12, arrived at the Chicago hospital in November. But neither knew they were both seeking a triple transplant when they first met during pre-therapy sessions ahead of surgery.
But McPharlin’s mother pried out of Smith that he was awaiting the same organs as McPharlin.
“It’s been mind-blowing and amazing, having someone go through the process with me, gave me more motivation,” Smith, a truck driver, said at the hospital Saturday.