Vanderbilt Transplant Center

In 1979, Patsy Williams and her brother, Barry Ford, made a decision that has given her many more years of life. Ford gave Williams his kidney at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They recently gathered for a luncheon to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Williams' transplant, along with dozens of their closest friends and family. She is thought to have lived longer with her transplant than anyone else who received one at Vanderbilt.

Eighty individuals donated the gift of their organs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center last year, more than any other hospital in the nation, and they and their families were saluted on April 16 at the 10th annual Donate Life Flag-Raising Ceremony.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and 13 other highly regarded liver transplant centers have filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping Federal policy changes that are slated to take effect Tuesday, April 30, that will affect thousands of patients across the Southeast and Midwest waiting for donor livers.

Heroes come in all sizes, and Mikayla Honeycutt was a small but mighty one. Born with a congenital brain condition called Dandy-Walker Syndrome, she had too much fluid in her brain.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center employees and guests gathered in the sixth floor atrium of the Critical Care Tower on Feb. 14 to dedicate “The Gift of Life,” a metal sculpture memorializing the final, selfless act of VUMC’s organ donors and their families.

Past and present members of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, guests and patients attended a celebration of VUMC’s 500th lung transplant at the Student Life Center Feb. 5.

Alabama resident Andy Bolden spent much of the last five years on the couch, having difficulty doing something many people take for granted — breathing.