Lurie Children’s Hospital celebrates transplant milestone

CHICAGO — Leadership at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago on Friday celebrated a record number of pediatric transplants performed for families over the course of the last fiscal year.

Doctors between last September and this August performed 40 kidney, 30 heart and 15 liver transplants. Surgeons also accomplished 55 stem cell transplants.

“The fact is that at Lurie Children’s, we’re more than about records and numbers. The fact is that for us it’s about making sure that we have outstanding outcomes for every single child that we serve,” Dr. Priya Verghese said at a Friday morning press conference to commemorate the milestone.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who oversees the state’s organ-tissue donor registry, was on-hand and used the opportunity to invite residents to become donors.

“It’s likely you know someone who has received a transplant, whether it was a heart, a liver, a kidney or even a cornea, but we need and we must do better. About 300 Illinoisans die each year just waiting for a transplant, and approximately 4,000 people remain on the waiting list at any given time,” he said.

Interested donors can make their wishes known by signing up through the Secretary of State’s LifeGoesOn.com organ/tissue donor website.

Lurie Children’s also currently leads the country in pediatric heart transplants, with 24 performed since the start of the year

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