Kidney transplants are not uncommon — the kidney is actually the most frequently transplanted organ in the U.S. — but a Chicago man recently received his in a highly unusual way. John Nicholas, 28, was awake during the entire procedure, which was performed on May 24 at Northwestern Medicine Hospital. He was discharged the very next day.
This is the first case at Northwestern Medicine where a patient was awake during an entire kidney transplant procedure and went home the next day, basically making this an outpatient procedure,' said Satish Nadig, M.D., PhD, transplant surgeon and director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center, in the release.
After a few years of managing the condition with medication, his kidney function worsened and he required a transplant. Nicholas’ mother originally planned to donate her kidney, but a breast cancer diagnosis prevented her from doing so, the hospital relayed. It was Nicholas’ best friend from elementary school, 29-year-old Pat Wise in Alexandria, Virginia, who ultimately donated the life-saving kidney. ‘Another tool in our toolbelt’ Dr.