A young man from County Limerick has become the first person in Ireland to receive a liver and double lung transplant.
And now Robert Sheehan, from Askett, has become a national advocate for organ donation.
The 29-year-old underwent a lengthy and complicated transplant operation in June last year and is currently recovering well.
Two surgical transplant teams – one from the National Heart-Lung Unit at Mater Misericordia University Hospital and the other from the National Liver Transplant Unit at St Vincent's University Hospital – worked on the life-saving operation, which took about 10 hours.
Robert was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) as a baby and, despite living with the chronic illness, led a relatively healthy life until his mid-20s, when his condition worsened.
“In the summer of 2018 I suffered a third collapsed lung and was rushed to hospital in fairly dramatic fashion. In December 2018, after the third collapse I was transferred by ambulance to Matter Hospital and ended up living there for the next eight months,” Robert said.
Like many people with CF, Robert had problems with multiple organs.
Lars Nolke, head of the Matter's heart and lung transplant unit, said Robert's lungs were already failing when he was admitted to the Dublin hospital, but his liver function was so poor that he would not have been able to survive a lung transplant alone.
The transplant team at Matter Hospital have begun discussions with a team at St Vincent's Hospital about the possibility of transplanting both the liver and lungs at the same time.
Lars Nollke said: “This was a life-saving treatment for Robert. Without a double lung and liver transplant, he would not have been able to leave hospital. The team here at Matter worked closely with our colleagues at St Vincent's Hospital to plan protocols for every possible scenario. After much discussion and hard work, we are now ready to put Robert on the transplant list.”
After eight months of waiting in the hospital, the organs were remarkably available on the same day in June that Robert was placed on the surgery list. Teams from both hospitals swung into action, with the SVUH team travelling to Matter Hospital with specialist equipment in preparation for a long, complicated day in the operating theatre.
Emir Hoti, director of SVUH's National Liver Transplant Program, started by working on the liver transplant.
Mr Hoti said: “Of all the transplant patients I have ever seen or treated, Robert has benefited the most. The fact that this is the first transplant in Ireland shows how far our transplant programme has come. The operation itself was complex but successful and working with the team at Matter was fantastic.”
While Hoti was performing the liver transplant on Robert, Nolke was simultaneously transplanting a heart from the same donor into another recipient.
Once the liver transplant was complete, Lars Nölke and the Matter team took over to transplant first one lung, then the other. Around 15 medical professionals, from anesthesiologists to operating room nurses, were involved in the 10-hour operation.
The surgery was successful, and Robert Sheehan regained consciousness in ICU a few days later, on his 29th birthday.
He spent the next two months recovering at Matter Hospital and has now been discharged and returned home, but continues to attend Matter Hospital weekly for follow-up observation.
“I'm now beginning to realise the benefits of the double transplant and the huge improvement it has made to my health. Recently the company that supplied the oxygen equipment I had to use regularly came to take it all back as I no longer needed it. It was a real rite of passage.
“I'm so grateful to those who decided to donate their organs. Without them, my prognosis may have been very different. Instead, I'm looking forward to traveling next year and seeing a bit of the world,” Robert said.
Professor Jim Egan, HSE Ireland Head of Organ Donation and Transplantation, said: “Organ donation saves lives. Robert's incredible progress and recovery, and the fact that this is Ireland's first double lung and liver transplant, has only been possible through organ donation. We would urge everyone to discuss this life-saving issue with the family.”
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