Intermountain Health’s Transplant Program Celebrates Gift of Organ

Intermountain Health honors National Donate Life Month with a celebration to recognize its adult organ transplant program.

Patients at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah have an average wait time of less than a month for liver transplants and less than a year for kidney transplants, making it one of the shortest wait-times for life saving organ transplant in the nation.

These transplants are a second chance at life for hundreds of people in the Mountain West, thanks to generous living and deceased organ donations from across the country and utilization of innovative technology.

This year, Intermountain Health became the first transplant center in the west to join the 34 Lives program, where difficult to allocate kidneys are assessed by a novel normothermic perfusion technique allowing surgeons a chance to rescue kidneys that would otherwise be unused.

By embracing new cutting-edge technology, the Intermountain Transplant Program has seen a 385% growth in liver transplants from 2018 to 2024, making it the third-fastest growing program in the nation with better than national outcomes.

“The success of Intermountain Health’s transplant program is due to all the passionate caregivers in the OR and in the clinic,” said Jean Botha, MD, medical director of Intermountain Health’s abdominal transplant program and Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital’s pediatric transplant program. “But it’s also due to the very gracious donors and their families, for saying, ‘Yes,’ to organ donation.”

Caregivers at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, along with the transplant clinic involved in heart, liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants, joined in today’s celebration with a group photo and open house to see the innovative technology saving and changing lives.

Patients also attended the open house to say, “Thank-you,” to those who helped save their lives.

Wife donates kidney to save husband

Jesica Treadway is one of those patients who couldn’t wait to show her gratitude.

She donated a kidney last October, in the paired kidney exchange program, so her husband who was in kidney failure could move up on the transplant list.

Although Jesica was a match for her husband, key DNA markers were a mismatch and could have resulted in rejection, so they opted to do a paired donation, sending her kidney to a recipient in New Jersey. Within three months, Dennis also got his new kidney from an anonymous donor.

“Without the paired exchange program, Dennis would have had to wait two-to-three years for a living donor, but he didn’t have those years to wait,” said Jesica. “We are so grateful that our three kids still have their dad, and I have my husband, all because of organ donation.”

Heart transplant – second chance at life

Jamaica Page’s heart journey began in 2016 when she found out she had a heart arrythmia.

In 2022, she was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and told that she would eventually need a heart transplant.

Just a year later she was admitted to the Cardiac ICU, at Intermountain Medical Center, to wait for a new heart.

That lifeline came on January 6, 2023, but unfortunately, the new heart failed to work correctly, and she was put on an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation or ECMO machine for another seven weeks while she waited for a second heart.

“This experience was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do,” said Page, “However, I am so very grateful that we have the latest medical discoveries and state-of-the-art technologies, along with ECMO machines and exceptionally skilled nurses, ECMO techs and doctors that kept me alive while awaiting another transplant.”

“Blessedly, the treasure of a second donor’s healthy heart arrived on March 25,” added Page. “The transplant went flawlessly, and my new heart continues to work wonderfully. My donors gave me the most amazing gift anyone could ever receive, it’s truly indescribable.”

Her new heart means her four children still have a mom, her husband still has a wife, and she doesn’t have to worry if her heart is able to keep up with them.

“The future looks bright and full of joy,” said Page.

A new liver – a new life

Rigoberto Medina is an Idaho Falls resident who lived with cirrhosis – a liver disease that exhausted him and took his energy and strength.

When his health declined, Medina was admitted into his local hospital where was told he was out of hope and options to live.

As a last attempt to help him, he was referred out of state to Intermountain Medical Center where he met with the transplant team that was able to not only find him a liver transplant but provide him services in his native tongue and given a second chance at life.

Medina continues to feel gratitude to his care team and the person who was able to provide the organ for his liver transplant.

“I was born again on May 24 in building 5 at Intermountain Medical Center,” he said.

National Donate Life Month is observed across the country each April to honor the gift of donation and encourage people to register as donors.

One person can save up to nine lives through organ donation.

“Donation can make a difference in the lives of the more than 100,000 people who are on the waiting list for a new organ,” said Rami Alharethi, MD, medical director of the Intermountain Heart Transplant and Artificial Heart Program at Intermountain Medical Center. “Events like this shine a light on the lives saved and transformed by that generosity.”

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a not-for-profit system of 34 hospitals, approximately 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.