Transplant Stories: 3000 Kidneys, Transplant Olympics, Patient Becomes Doctor

We’re very excited about this latest series of videos created for the Transplant Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. The patient stories are amazing - a woman who got the 3000th kidney transplant at Mass General; a woman who received a live liver donation from her brother and went on to have a family and win five gold medals in the transplant olympics; a current medical resident who, at 18, as a freshman at BC, was healthy one week, and needed a liver transplant the next.The physicians and nurses involved in the patient care were equally amazing, in their extraordinary care and skill. One particular joy: we got to meet and interview the physician who was involved in the first kidney transplant in the early sixties at Mass General.

Behind the scenes: the patients opened their homes to us. We filmed the transplant olympics patient running, from the back of a pick-up truck, and had her liver-donating brother run as well. Lighting in all the videos reminded me of the extraordinary skill of Tim Llewellyn, who worked on this video series, along with Jamie and Bob Llewellyn. It all came together: the upfront research and pre-interviews, the composition and lighting during filming, the editing.

Take a look! These patients and doctors will inspire you.