See The Lives We’ve Changed

Children, adolescents, and adults share their life-changing experiences at the Miami Transplant Institute.

Not so long ago, getting a new heart, liver, or set of lungs would have been an impossible dream. But today, the Miami Transplant Institute is making miracles happen for patients of all ages. These are their stories.

Group of medical professionals within a surgery room, they all look at the camera

Robotic Kidney Transplant Marks 100th Procedure at Miami Transplant Institute, and First of Its Kind in Southeastern U.S.

The transplant marked the 99th and 100th procedures performed at MTI using the da Vinci Surgical System.

A group of seven people standing in front of the ocean

South Florida Woman Receives a Heart Transplant on Daughter’s Wedding Day

Reaching some of life’s major milestones hasn’t always seemed possible for Liliana Hernandez, who has been living on borrowed time. As a great grandmother, grandmother, mother, and wife, she hoped for the day that her prayers would be answered.

Two women laying on separate medical beds, they look at the camera, they have on scrubs and masks

The Perfect Match: South Florida Teacher’s Life Saved by Living Donor

Tyra Starnes was shocked when her primary care doctor diagnosed her with chronic kidney disease. Up until that point, the 25-year-old West Palm Beach elementary school teacher felt healthy. However, as her kidneys continued to deteriorate, Starnes started feeling the effects of the disease.

A patient standing in the middle of a group of six medical professionals, they are all wearing face masks and looking at the camera

A Birthday Miracle: A New Heart Gives One Florida Man A Second Chance at Life

“When Harold arrived at the hospital, he was experiencing shortness of breath, and we quickly discovered he was in cardiogenic shock, which means his heart could not pump enough blood through his body,” Dr. Phancao said.

A group of medical professionals, a woman, and a young boy, they all look towards the camera, they are all wearing face masks

A Mother’s Unconditional Love Gives Son a Fighting Chance to Receive a Life-saving Kidney Transplant

When Araceli Cantero Obregón was seven months pregnant, doctors in Nicaragua told her that her son Edgard Sequeira would have hydrocephalus, a condition in which excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up within the ventricles of the brain.

A woman laying on a medical bed with tubing around her, she is smiling next to a medical professional who is wearing blue scrubs, a face mask, and is looking at the camera

Miami Transplant Institute’s 500th Intestinal Transplant Recipient is a Young Woman From Arkansas

During her junior year of high school, Stephanie was thriving at being a healthy teenage girl. Unexpectedly, though, Jira began to have trouble keeping food down after meals.

Multiple medical professionals during a surgery, they are looking towards their left, they are all wearing gowns

The Miami Transplant Institute Performs its First Living Donor Robotic Procedure

A MTI multidisciplinary team performed its first successful living kidney donor transplant using the da Vinci Surgical System. Viviana Manzo donated her kidney to her longtime friend who suffered from End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).

Two young girls standing next to Santa Claus, there is a sign that reads Thank You Miami Transplant, hashtag donatelife

Naples Twin Celebrating Her Third Transplant Anniversary after Rare Diagnosis of Alagille Syndrome

For first-time parents, JoAnna and Kris, having twin girls was a dream come true. But three months after delivering healthy twin girls, the new parents noticed that one of their daughters was developing differently than her sister.

Baby in a hospital bassinet with tubes around its body

A Second, Multi-Organ Transplant during COVID Gives 5-year-old Chance at Life

After years of long and frequent hospital stays, not being able to eat, and digestive and intestinal issues that required two multi-organ transplants — 5-year-old Elijah Marrow is enjoying the freedom to run around freely and eat pizza.

Baby with a sign that says she is going home

Orlando Toddler Leaves Hospital After Long Battle of Liver Disease

When Danilia “Amor” Aquino was born prematurely at 26 weeks in Orlando, she was showing early signs of liver disease. A few months later, she was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare, genetic, life-threatening liver disease that only appears in infants.

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