NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Vanderbilt University Medical Center celebrated a record-breaking year for organ transplants.
In 2023, the team did 739 organ transplants, including heart, lungs, liver and kidney transplants.
This tops the previous record of 645 transplants in 2021 and lands them as the fifth-largest transplant center by volume in the nation.
This January, the hospital system also made history with its first adult-to-pediatric living donor liver transplant.
1-year-old Cameron Campbell, who had a rare disease called Urea Cycle Disorder, was in desperate need of a liver. When the family couldn't find one in Atlanta, they learned his mother could do living donation to her child at Vanderbilt. They went through with the surgery in early January.
"I mean we're connected for life," said Krissy. "Just to give him a chance to live a normal life, we're just so grateful."
The director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, Dr. Joseph Magliocca, helped with Cameron's transplant in early January.
He said the new record at Vanderbilt is one to celebrate, as long as donors keep stepping up.
"Really more important than the numbers, every one of those is truly a life saved," he said. "We can't do any of this without organ donors."
While he thanks donors like Krissy Campbell, she thanks VUMC, calling her team the "best in the world".
"They say I'm the hero but they're also heroes," she said.
One month later, Cameron and mom Krissy say they've both recovered from the transplant surgery tremendously well.
If you are interested in learning more about being an organ donor, you can visit Donate Life Tennessee's website.
This is as Donate Life Tennessee says close to 3,000 people are currently waiting for a transplant.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
