Groundbreaking Quadruple-Organ Transplant: Elizabeth Wehrle’s Journey
Elizabeth Wehrle underwent a groundbreaking surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where doctors transplanted four new organs into her body. Before the operation, she knew about the quadruple-organ transplant, but not that it was the first in the U.S. to be performed on someone who had already undergone a lung transplant.
Wehrle, aged 36 from Montezuma, Iowa, expressed gratitude for the medical team’s willingness to undertake this challenging procedure. She humorously admitted her relief at not knowing she was the first patient of this kind. Although seven quadruple-organ transplants have been conducted in recent years in the U.S., Wehrle’s case was unique. Her transplant included a liver, a kidney, and a second pair of donor lungs because her initial lung transplant was rejected, and cystic fibrosis damaged her liver and kidney, according to Northwestern.
“This is a young woman who really had no options and she really had nowhere else to go,” Dr. Satish Nadig, transplant surgeon, explained. “We saved her life in a way not done before.”
Wehrle’s battle with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease affecting organs, started at age 11. Treatments controlled it until late 2015, leading to her first lung transplant in 2017. Post-transplant, she resumed her life, caring for her son and running a massage therapy studio.
Her health declined in January after contracting pneumonia, requiring hospitalization and then returning home in worsened condition. Within weeks, she lost 30 pounds and struggled with basic activities like breathing and dressing. By February, her unresponsiveness led to intubation and ECMO intervention.
Wehrle’s parents chose to wake her to decide on another organ transplant, understanding the ordeal they faced before. “It was so hard the first time,” Wehrle recounted, “but I have an 11-year-old son. There was no way I would leave him unnecessarily.”
Upon her transfer to Northwestern, doctors tackled the surgery in two stages, addressing her severe lung rejection. Dr. Ankit Bharat explained the difficulty of second lung transplants under such conditions. During the first stage, surgeons prepared the lungs, leaving Wehrle under general anesthesia and using ECMO and a ventilator. The second stage involved transplanting new lungs, a liver, and a kidney over eight hours. All the organs came from a single donor, maintaining viability with perfusion machines during the procedure.
Wehrle’s initial post-surgery memories are unclear but accompanied by a sense of relief. “I’m here, and I still get to raise my son and run my business,” she recalled. She spent several weeks at Northwestern for recovery, then moved to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for rehabilitation. Her continued stay in Chicago for follow-up care allowed her to enjoy time with her son, visiting attractions like the Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier.
Now walking three to four miles daily, Wehrle looks forward to returning home, celebrating her belated birthday with her son, and reuniting with her two cats. “I’m incredibly grateful for the doctors and team at Northwestern for allowing me to fight back,” Wehrle said.
Northwestern doctors hope this surgery sets a precedent for tackling complex transplant cases in the future. “The coordination beyond technical ability is really staggering,” Nadig explained. “It gives people hope in other places that this can be done.”