CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Patricio Collera has a lot to be thankful for this season.
The 63-year-old retired nurse was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, as well as nonalcoholic liver disease, and doctors said he needed a double organ transplant.
Thanksgiving Day will mark three months since he received life-changing news.
“When I heard Dr. Tomic say, ‘Yes we can do it. You’re healthy. You’re young. You’re a very good candidate,’ I still cry,” Collera said.
Less than 10 days after being added to the waitlist for new organs, Collera received a call on Aug. 24 that a new lung and liver were available.
Collera received Northwestern Medicine’s first successful lung-liver transplant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the same place where he once worked.
The procedure is incredibly rare.
“It’s been done maybe with numbers in the teens for the United States,” said Dr. Rade Tomic, a pulmonologist and medical director of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Lung Transplant Program. “Across the world, it’s also a very rare procedure to do.”
Not only did Collera get a new lung and liver, he got a new lease on life.
“Thank you to whoever donated,” Collera said. “I promise that I will not waste your lung and liver. I will live a good life, do something with my life, because without your organs I wouldn’t be here anymore.”
This Thanksgiving, Collera said he’s looking forward to spending quality time with his wife, Evelyn, their children and grandkids.
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