Yesterday, during our press conference organized on the occasion of the upcoming National Transplant Day, the girl and other transplant patients told their stories. About how they got the chance for a second life.
The conference was held at the Children's Clinical Hospital UCC MUW on the 57th anniversary of the first successful kidney transplantation in Poland. It was performed on January 26, 1966 by Prof. Jan Nielubowicz's team at the First Surgical Clinic of the Medical Academy (now the Department of General, Vascular and Transplant Surgery UCC MUW). This nationally pioneering procedure started the transplant medicine program at the clinical centers MUW. The conference was an opportunity to recall milestones in the program's more than 50-year history and present plans for the future. - But the occasion is twofold - said Prof. Zbigniew Gaciong, Rector of MUW. - Today we can boast about the happiness of others. A successful transplant is the happiness of the patient, who - in the case of the person receiving a heart - gets a new life. And in the case of a kidney recipient - he gets a new better life.
Currently, UCC MUW, as one of 30 transplant centers in Poland, transplants one out of every five vascular organs. - The achievements of MUW have contributed to the development of transplantology in Poland - said Prof. Wojciech Lisik, Vice Rector for Clinical Affairs and Investments. - We are also working closely with other transplant centers, providing knowledge and experience. We accept patients who cannot go to other centers due to the complexity of surgical procedures. We deal with difficult complications that cannot be treated elsewhere in Poland.
Lena and her chance for a new life
Lena is, for now, the youngest patient to receive a heart transplant at UCC MUW. The nine-year-old suffered from restrictive cardiomyopathy - the most severe of the three types of cardiomyopathy. In this condition, both heart rhythm and contractility can be normal, but the stiff walls of the heart cavities (atria and ventricles) prevent them from filling properly. Over time, patients with restrictive cardiomyopathy develop heart failure, hence the need for heart transplantation.
Lena waited four years for her chance. The good news reached the family in December 2022, just before Christmas. The girl even had time to dress the Christmas tree. There was surprise, joy, but also fear. The operation was performed on December 23. - This long waiting time was very difficult for us - said Lena's mother. - My daughter had various complications. She went through a stroke and many other scary moments. But I am very proud of her, because she really fought, patiently waited for the heart. Fortunately, it was found at the right time.
The girl admits that she was afraid of the procedure, but was reassured by the knowledge that she would have a healthy heart and more strength. Today, a month after the operation, she feels fine. She is staying at the Department of Pediatric Cardiology and General Pediatrics UCC MUW, where she is undergoing intensive immpusupressive treatment. Doctors who are caring for her say she is in very good shape.
What dreams does Lenka have now? To meet her family, go for a walk in the woods. But also to finally start going to school and make friends. - But everything slowly - says her mother. - For now, we still have to isolate and recover a bit, but we have a lot of catching up to do. Lenka has had to give up a lot of things over these four years and forget about being a small child.
Other patients also told their touching stories in the fight for a second life. Dorota Curyła, who will soon celebrate the 35th anniversary of her kidney and pancreas transplantation, told her story: - In 1988, I was 27 years old, living in Silesia, a wife and mother of a 1.5-year-old daughter. I had first-degree diabetes and failing kidneys. I ended up at the Institute of Transplantology and there I was given hope for a new better life.
Sylwia Kaczmarek, a simultaneous liver and pancreas transplant patient with cystic fibrosis since childhood, conveyed her thanks to the entire team taking care of her: "For all the priceless years of life I received thanks to you and that you were not afraid to give them to me."
Following the kidney transplant, Agata Brodaczewska, who appeared with her husband Przemysław (a recipient/donor couple), spoke of their emotions while waiting for the phone call with information about the transplant. - During the successive stages of the study, I grew convinced that I could give my wife a chance to continue living, that everything would be fine - Przemysław recounted.
Michal Figurski, a well-known TV and radio journalist, also shared his story. - There was no way at all for me not to appear here today at this meeting. I feel that this is my powerful duty, especially since my road to a kidney and pancreas transplant in 2016 was very long, painful and tortuous. The journalist had been suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus for 30 years, and one of the complications from not treating it was nephropathy. With the help of Prof. Lisik and Prof. Kosieradzki, he was given a chance for a second life. - I am not a perfect patient at all, I have a lot of sins on my account, which I prefer not to talk about here. But I am alive, living as best I can only thanks to all these people, whom I would like to thank today from the bottom of my heart, really very sincerely. I rarely have tears in my eyes, but today I do, and with all my heart - and all my pancreas and kidney - I thank you.
Appeal for organ donation
- Lenka is the best example of what we still have to do - said Prof. Kuśmierczyk, who, together with his team, performed the girl's heart transplant operation. - In Poland, about 10 heart transplants in children are performed annually. In a country of 40 million people, this is a drop in the ocean of needs. We need to fight for as many transplants as possible.
- I admire the parents who decided to donate the organs of their dead children for transplantation. I have great respect for them - Lena's mother admitted. - I know what it means to wait for an organ and watch the suffering of a child who needs it. And I believe that the parents of these children are aware that they are leaving a piece of their child in the world, and the recipients of these organs and we, their families, will do our best to keep this piece in this world for as long as possible. We will take care of it and nurture it.
- I would also like to say that these transplants should develop, because I know what it is like to wait for a heart. I would like this conference to be seen by as many people as possible, and that they talk about this transplantation - Lenka said at the end.
The conference also presented the activities and transplantation achievements of the UCC MUW departments and their plans for the future. Speakers included Prof. Michał Grąt, Head of the Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery, Prof. Grzegorz Basak, Head of the Department of Hematology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine, Prof. Maciej Kosieradzki, Head of the Department of General and Transplantation Surgery, Prof. Sławomir Nazarewski, Head of the Department of General, Vascular and Transplant Surgery, Prof. Bartosz Kubisa, Department of Heart, Chest and Transplant Surgery, Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk, Head of the Department of Heart, Chest and Transplant Surgery.
Present at the conference were, among others: Magdalena Kramska, Head of the Transplantation Unit of the Ministry of Health, Artur Kaminski, MD, PhD, Director of the Organizational and Coordinating Center for Transplantation "POLTRANSPLANT", Prof. Roman Danielewicz, Chairman of the National Transplantation Council, Prof. Magdalena Durlik, Head of the Department of Transplantation Medicine, Nephrology and Internal Diseases, prof. Bożena Werner, Head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology and General Pediatrics, Krzysztof Zając, Provincial Coordinator of Poltransplant, Transplant Coordinator of UCC MUW, Edyta Karpeta, Transplant Coordinator of UCC MUW, and Prof. Piotr Pruszczyk, Vice Rector for Science and Technology Transfer MUW and Prof. Paweł Włodarski, Vice Rector for International Relations, Development and Promotion MUW.
Milestones of transplantation at MUW
Department of General, Vascular and Transplant Surgery - Head Prof. Sławomir Nazarewski
- 26.01.1966 - First successful kidney transplant in Poland. Prof. Jan Nielubowicz, Prof. Tadeusz Orłowski, Prof. Wojciech Rowiński
- 08.02.1988 - Poland's first successful simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplantation. Prof. Jacek Szmidt
- 18.06.2003 - Kidney procurement from a living donor using a videoscopic approach – Prof. Sławomir Nazarewski
Chair and Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery - Headed by Professor Michal Grąt
- 30.12.1994 - Poland's first successful liver transplantation. Dr. Jacek Pawlak, Dr. Bogdan Michałowicz, Dr. Krzysztof Zieniewicz. The then 46-year-old patient died in 2020 at the age of 72
Transplantology was developed at the Department by its successive heads Prof. Marek Krawczyk and Prof. Krzysztof Zieniewicz - 12.10.1999 – First successful transplantation of a liver fragment from a living donor. Prof. Marek Krawczyk, Prof. Piotr Kaliciński
- 30.08.1999 - First successful simultaneous heart and liver transplantation. Heart - National Institute of Cardiology Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk, liver - MUW Prof. Krzysztof Zieniewicz
Department of General and Transplantation Surgery - Head Prof. Maciej Kosieradzki
- 12.04.2008 - Poland's first pancreatic islet transplantation from a living donor (research and scientific study - Professor Stanislaw Moskalewski)
- 10.02.2015- Poland's first cross-transplantation - two donor-recipient pairs
- 23.06.2015 - Poland's first chain transplantation - three donor-recipient pairs
- 07.03.2017 - Poland's first cross-transplantation with the participation of another transplant center
- 30.09.2021 - First simultaneous liver and pancreas transplantation. Prof. Wojciech Lisik with his team.
Department of Hematology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine - Head Prof. Grzegorz Basak
- 09.1999 - First autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation at MUW. Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak
- 10.1999 - First allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation at MUW. Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak
- 08.2002 - First hematopoietic cell transplantation from a compatible unrelated donor at MUW. Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak
- 05.2003 - First allogeneic cord blood transplantation at MUW. Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak
- 03.2015 - First transplantation of haploidentical hematopoietic cells. Prof. Grzegorz Basak, Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak
- 11.2016 - First transplantation of isolated CD34+ cells. Prof. Grzegorz Basak, Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak
- 09.2022 - First infusion of CAR-T lymphocytes. Prof. Grzegorz Basak
Department of Heart, Chest and Transplant Surgery - Head Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk
- 03.08.2022 - First heart transplant at MUW (16 years old boy). Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk
- 23.12.2022 - First heart transplant in a child at MUW (9 years old girl) Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk
- 30.12.2022 - First lung transplant at MUW. Prof. Bartosz Kubisa
- 13.01.2023 - First simultaneous heart and liver transplantation at WUM without the involvement of another transplant center. Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk, Krzysztof Dudek, MD, PhD
