152 CHICAGO | SEPTEMBER 2019
a pacemaker wire and the heart could
develop a dangerous arrhythmia with-
out her knowing.
By the time her surgery was done, at
2:27 p.m. on Friday, Sarah had been on
the table for more than 20 hours.
“We never in our wildest dreams
imagined both would take place at
virtually the same time,” John Fung,
codirector of UChicago Medicine's
Transplant Institute and a protégé of
triple-transplant pioneer Thomas Starzl,
said at a press conference on January 4.
“Pulling this off can feel like trying to
perform a high-wire ballet in the middle
of running a marathon.”JUST DAYS AFTER THE SURGERY,
Sarah was amazed by how good she felt.
Before the transplant, she had gained
45 pounds of water weight. It was
n ice to have her nor ma l leg s a g a in. S he’d
also felt out of breath and cold all the
time, a result of the poor circulation
caused by her failing heart. Now she
didn’t have to constantly swaddle her-
self in a blanket or coat.
Her and Daru's recoveries have not
been w it hout compl ic at ion s. I n Ja nua r y,
test s revea led t hat Da r u’s l iver en z y mes
were elevated, so surgeons placed
a stent in one of his bile ducts to open
up a blocked passageway. He also
got an infection, which was cleared up
with antibiotics.
In Sarah’s case, physicians noticed
some blood in one of the drains inserted
near her liver. The only way to rule out
a problem was to return her to the OR.
And since her discharge, 17 days after
the transplant, Sarah has registered low
magnesium levels, requiring weekly
infusions of the mineral, which keeps
the heartbeat steady and maintains
nerve and muscle functions. She’s also
struggled at times with a low white blood
cell count, necessitating booster shots,
and painful shin splints in her left leg,
likely the result of years of taking anti-
inflammatory medication.
The issues have forced her to use
a wheelchair on some family out-
ings, but she has gone nonetheless — toNorthwestern’s Cancer Survivors’
Celebration Walk in Grant Park, to
PorchFest Lakeview, to fireworks at
Navy Pier. And they have not caused
her to give up on a goal she set when
she heard she’d be getting new organs:
competing in the Transplant Games of
America, which will take place next July
at the New Jersey Meadowlands.
She also plans to fulfill a pact. While
she and Daru were waiting for their
organs, she told her new friend that
when it was all done, when both of
them had their new organs, they should
meet up in a sunny place, maybe at
Millennium Park or by the lake. Maybe
she and her mother could take him to
dinner. She would like to meet his son.
Daru laughed and said, “I’m a vegan
now.” Sarah smiled back. “Vegan it is.”A FEW DAYS AFTER SARAH’S
discharge, Daru was granted his own
release from the hospital he’d called
home for eight weeks. Wearing a paper
mask to guard against infection and bal-
ancing a large poster card filled with well
wishes, he was wheeled through the ICU
toward the elevator, bound for the garage
where his sister was waiting.
Along the way, nurses, doctors, and
administrative staff clapped and waved
and shouted goodbyes.
“Thank you,” he said back, his
voice still raspy from the recently
removed breathing tube. “Thank you
for everything.”
“You are loved here,” the orderly push-
ing his wheelchair said.
They turned one corner. And then
another.
And then they stood looking down a
final hallway. At the end of it shone what
looked like a bright white light.
The orderly pushed him forward. And
as he did, the source became clear: a set
of white double doors illuminated by
bright discs of light in the ceiling. The
white grew brighter and brighter until
Daru was suddenly on the other side,
where he saw a familiar car and his sis-
ter standing beside it, smiling, waiting to
take him home to his son. C