The brain-dead donor was a 47-year-old patient, in Binh Duong, or 1,700 kilometers far from Hanoi.

Just several hours after the call, at dawn December 19, a team of urologists set off to Binh Duong to receive the donated kidney.

If all the necessary parameters satisfied the requirements, the hospital would be able to carry out its 70th organ transplant, and the first transplant with organs donated from brain-dead individual. It would be a very important milestone.

"We had practiced many times for the scenario of receiving organs from a braindead donor, but still had not conducted any surgery at that time, because the donated organs had not matched,” she said.

“Each opportunity missed means one attempt fails," Huong said. 

The information from the south about matching indices between donor and recipient brought both joy and anxiety to the medical team.

Immediately, the team of anesthetists, surgeons, urologists, nephrologists, anesthesiologists, resuscitation experts, radiologists, blood bank personnel, biochemists, and hematologists prepared the operating room, equipment, and medications, and stood ready for surgery when the organ came.

The organ recipient was a 12-year-old girl, L.N.H, from Hiep Hoa in Bac Giang. At the age of 12, H just weighed 21 kilograms, and looked small as a 5-year-old. Her father, LTP, recounted a day in 2017 when he received a distressing call from his mother reporting that his second daughter was vomiting excessively and needed hospital care.

"She was diagnosed with end-stage chronic kidney failure, and our family was stunned," P recalled.

The seven-year journey of treating his daughter with peritoneal dialysis began.  According to the doctor, H. suffered from kidney failure complications resulting in bone deformities, X-shaped legs, and calcium deposits.

The illness kept H away from school. She learned to read and write with guidance from her caring older sister and couldn't run and play like other children.

As his daughter fell sick, P had to quit his job, work in the rice field to have time to take care for the child and perform peritoneal dialysis at home four times a day. Every month, the father and daughter traveled to Hanoi for check-ups.

However, peritoneal dialysis is only a temporary treatment, as most children eventually face cardiovascular complications, hypertension, or even death. Kidney transplantation is the optimal solution for these patients.

However, the father was disappointed as he did not know where to find a kidney for his daughter.

In early 2024, P was excited when hearing that doctors found a kidney for his daughter. But the surgery could not be implemented because the donor’s family members changed their mind.

But finally, the girl got a new opportunity.

Challenges and hope

Early on the morning of December 19, 2024, after a moment of silent tribute to the brain-dead donor, doctors proceeded with the organ extraction. Dr Le Anh Dung, Head of Urology at the National Children's Hospital, took the kidney from the donor’s body. He remembers all what happened on that day, when the kidney was brought from Binh Duong General Hospital to Tan Son Nhat Airport.

"Everything was implemented so professionally that the process just took only 30 minutes despite peak traffic hours, thanks to the police,” Dung recalled.

On the airplane, the box with the organ was put on a VIP seat. And it took only 20 minutes to move from Noi Bai Airport to National Children’s Hospital. It arrived at 10.30am, and the transplant surgery began immediately.

Fifteen healthcare professionals participated in the operation. The biggest challenge for anesthetists was the long cold ischemia time of the transplanted kidney (due to transportation), which impacted kidney function.

Vascular grafting was another major challenge, as the donor's blood vessels were thicker and harder.  But the post-transplant recovery was the most challenging, because the risk of rejection in kidney transplantation from a brain-dead donor is many times higher than that from a living donor. H. underwent plasma filtration six times, among other measures, to overcome the complication.

Holding his daughter's hand, watching her grow healthier each day, and eagerly waiting to be discharged, the father can hardly believe that this fortunate life-saving event had occurred. Now, his family of seven can finally enjoy the first Tet holiday after seven years of living in hospital and bearing fragile hope.

Vo Thu