Queen’s celebrates first transplant procedures

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Locked in a life-threatening battle with liver cancer, Virgil Macy had a difficult choice to make late last year when Hawaii’s only organ transplant center was on the verge of shutting down.

The 57-year old Hawaii island resident could have quit his job as a concrete company supervisor and moved to the mainland for a transplant and recovery period that last up to two years. Or he could take a chance that a Hawaii hospital would step up and continue the transplant services that were being lost with the closure of Hawaii Medical Center.

Macy opted to stay and within a week found out that the Queen’s Medical Center was moving forward to take over the transplant program that HMC and its predecessor St. Francis Medical Center had run for more than 40 years.

"My insurance company wanted me to move to the mainland," Macy said. "I would have had to sell my house and quit my job. But I had confidence that Queen’s would open for transplants. Within a week they called me and said it’s time to get over here."

On March 7, Macy became the first organ transplant patient at the new transplant center. On Thursday he and Jonathan Sara­gosa, the second liver transplant patient at Queen’s, appeared at a news conference to mark the occasion.

The celebration included a cake with an image of a liver stenciled into the icing.

"Today is not so much a press conference as it is a party," said Dr. Linda Wong, who heads the new transplant team and performed the first two liver transplants. "Today is more of a celebration of life and second chances with the gift of life."

Wong had led the transplant program at HMC before joining Queen’s. Half of her new team of medical professionals was hired from HMC.

Saragosa, clutching the hand of his wife, Debra, said he was grateful that the issue of finding a new home for the transplant center was resolved so quickly.

"I got grandchildren, and I’m only 56 years old and I would like to live a little longer," said Sara­gosa, who lives in Mountain View.

Also attending the event was Irving Lebo­witz, the last patient to undergo an organ transplant at HMC before it closed. Lebo­witz, a 51-year-old Pearl City resident, received a new liver in November.

Lebowitz, who suffered from hepatitis, said he was looking forward to seeing his son graduate from the University of Hawaii engineering school next year, and his daughter graduate from Pearl City High School this spring.