A GRUELLING 12-hour multi-organ transplant was successfully completed on a 32-year-old patient early today, marking a medical first for Australia.
As a result, Brendan Cole’s dream of marrying his sweetheart Kirrily on a Fijian beach has moved a lot closer.
Mr Cole, who has lived much of his life on intravenous nutrition because of intestinal failure, received a new liver, pancreas and small intestine in an operation that wound up at 2am this morning.
The 20-member medical team, led by Professor Bob Jones and assisted by English transplant surgeon Darius Mirza, was elated with the outcome.
The first thing Mr Cole said when he woke up in intensive care was to remind the surgeons that he had missed Friday night’s AFL match between Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.
“He looks pretty good this morning. We’re very pleased with how things have gone,” Professor Jones said.
Physician Adam Testro said Mr Cole had not been able to eat solid food for the last decade.
“He got to the point where he didn’t have long to live and this operation will enable him to lead a normal life,” Dr Testro said.
“He’s got a partner, he wants to get married and live a normal life and this was holding him back.
“His long-term outlook was grim without this procedure.”
Professor Jones explained how his team stripped Mr Cole’s abdomen to the point where it was an empty cavity – “just like an empty suitcase”.
“It’s one of the most spectacular findings in surgery – when you look inside the abdomen and there’s nothing left,” he said.
“It’s the sort of process that would gross you out … but at the end of the operation, his tummy is full of all the normal organs.”
Intestinal transplants have been carried out in 62 countries around the world and Dr Mirza has been involved in about 70 operations at Birmingham Hospital in the UK over the last 15 years.
“The risk of his body rejecting the new organs is high and infection is very common, so we’re not out of the woods yet,” Dr Mirza said.
Mr Cole will continue to receive nutrition through a tube for the next five weeks as his body adjusts to his new bowel and, hopefully, he will then slowly move on to fluids and solid food.
In a statement before the operation, Mr Cole said his life had been on hold while he waited for a new intestine.
“I have so much to look forward to – I want to go back to work and contribute to society,” he said.
“Kirrily and I are planning our wedding on the beach in Fiji for when I have recovered.”
The transplant, which cost between $300,000 and $400,000, was bankrolled by the Victorian government.
But Professor Jones said it was a bargain because it cost around $120,000 each year just to keep Mr Cole alive.
He said the Austin Hospital will become the centre of excellence for intestinal transplants in Australia and there are people waiting for a donor to have the operation done.
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