First heart and liver transplant in Kentucky at UofL Health

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - UofL Health Jewish Hospital is celebrating a double-transplant surgery in Kentucky on Wednesday.

Michael Munday is recovering well after an innovative transplant surgery in March of 2022, according to the release.

Munday is the first recipient of a combined heart and liver transplant in Kentucky. Last summer, Munday’s heart’s function fell to about 10% and he spent nearly two and a half months at Jewish Hospital between July and September.

He returned to the hospital in January for a checkup post-transplant, he is now home in Graham, Kentucky with a healthy heart and liver.

“You’re asking someone who you never met before, and you’re asking for the complete utter trust of a stranger, and you’re asking another stranger to give the gift of life,” Stephanie Moore of UofL said. “Right? And it is what proves the world is good.”

“They’ve treated me like a rock star here since day one,” Michael Munday said. “. I was just another stranger coming in on a helicopter, but in a matter of hours or days everybody I met, we bonded.”

A team of five transplant surgeons and dozens of medical staff worked together for about 12 hours to perform the procedure.

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