Patricio Collera thought all hope was lost. The 63-year-old man from Vernon Hills was living with an unbearable cough and difficulty breathing from his interstitial lung disease and nonalcoholic liver disease.
"My life was miserable. I had to drag 50 feet of tubing and oxygen tanks with me everywhere I went. One tank would only last 30 minutes, so I’d have to bring two tanks with me to the grocery store," said Collera.
He needed a lung transplant, but doctors soon realized he would also need a new liver to withstand the transplant medication.
"Lung and a liver transplant is extremely rare and certainly a very complex operation," said Dr. Ankit Bharat, the chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern.
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Collera called transplant centers around the country and was turned down by all of them because of his risk factors and age. He felt hopeless, until Northwestern answered the call.
"From the statistics that I heard from the other hospitals, the picture was grim. But I was still willing to do it," he said.
Only 10 lung-liver transplants have been performed across the country so far in 2022.
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"One of the critical issues during multi-organ transplants, such as lung and liver, is the time these organs stay outside of the human body. The longer they stay outside human body, the worse the outcome is likely to be," said Dr. Bharat.
Once in the operating room, surgeons had to work against the clock.
"We had to work twice as fast with twice the efficiency to make sure the procedure was successful, and we had no margin of error," said Dr. Bharat.
Collera's doctors said his procedure was a success. Thanksgiving Day will mark three months since they received the call organs were available.
"I have realized how precious life should be taken, and seriously," said Collera.
He plans to spend Thanksgiving with his wife. He'll check in virtually with the rest of his family since he can't risk being exposed to illness.
Collera and his doctors hope his success story gives hope to other patients.
"This was an important milestone," said Dr. Bharat. "With the success of this program, we hope patients like Patricio will be able to get transplanted at our programs."
The organs came from a single donor. And, Collera says he'll never forget his gift of life was given up by someone else.
"Don’t take life for granted."
