Members of the transplant team of the Szczecin Provincial Hospital welcomed the New Year at a gas station – on the way to one of the Silesian hospitals, where at around At 1 a.m. they started collecting a liver from a deceased donor. On New Year's morning, the organ was delivered to a patient waiting for a transplant. It was the first liver transplant in Poland in 2025.
It all started with a phone call received by Piotr Sobieszek, transplant coordinator at the Provincial Hospital in Szczecin, on New Year's Eve. – The central coordinator from Poltransplant called and reported the organ for donation – says Sobieszek. – In such a situation, you basically drop everything, direct all your attention to this report, and simply act. There are certain things that need to be sorted out for coordination to move forward.
In this case, it was about, among others: for obtaining acceptance of the application, notifying the transplant team and organizing quick and safe transport to the hospital where the deceased donor was staying.
New Year's Eve on the route
– We set off to Silesia at 7 p.m. We spent New Year's Eve on the road – me, another doctor and an operating nurse along with the drivers. We were on call that day, so none of us had any special New Year's Eve plans, although we didn't expect to go there, says the doctor. Olga Michalewicz from the general and transplantation surgery department of the Independent Public Provincial Hospital.
At midnight, when champagne corks were popping all over Poland, the transplant team arrived at the hospital. – We got off at the gas station for a while to welcome the New Year. We quickly wished each other well and after a few minutes we continued our journey – adds Michalewicz.
In the middle of the night, after harvesting the liver, the transplant team set off on their way back to Szczecin. Transplantation at the hospital at ul. Arkońska started around 7.
Interrupted vacation
– Like the rest of the team, I found out on December 31 that I was going to have a serious liver transplant surgery in the morning – says Samir Zeair, M.D., Ph.D., head of the department of general and transplant surgery at SPWSZ and head of the transplant team. – I had a vacation planned for the New Year, but in this profession you can't be sure of anything. For this reason, I went to bed just after midnight, saying goodbye to my loved ones with whom I welcomed the New Year. I had to be rested in the morning and ready for a long-hour operation.
The transplantation was completed on January 1 at approximately 14 and was the first liver transplant in Poland. The patient, a 46-year-old woman, is doing well and, if everything continues to go according to plan, will go home next week.
– The life and health of our patients is always the most important to us. Giving up New Year's Eve fun is nothing compared to the chance for a new life that the recipient gets. Moreover, we are used to unusual transplant shifts. Last Christmas Eve, we also transplanted a liver, and on the first day of Christmas, subsequent recipients received another liver and two kidneys in our hospital – adds Dr. Samir Zeair.
The year 2024 ended for the Independent Public Provincial Hospital in Szczecin with 155 transplants. Never before, since the beginning of the transplant program, have there been more transplants at the Provincial Hospital. This number includes four lung transplants, 72 kidney transplants (the last time the number of 70 kidney transplants was exceeded in SPWSZ was in 2008) and 79 livers (which is the second result in Poland).
According to Poltransplant data, at the end of December, 1,905 people across the country were waiting for an organ transplant. The largest group (1,122 people) were those waiting for a kidney transplant.
Main photo source: SPWSZ archive