Shawn talks with Dr. Josh Mezrich and Herb Heneman.
Dr. Josh Mezrich is a board certified transplant surgeon specializing in kidney and liver transplants. He joined UW Health in 2007 after finishing his transplant fellowship here. He is the surgical director of the living kidney donor program where supports living kidney donors and does the donor surgery and/or kidney transplant. He has a lot of media experience now, due to his popular book When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon. He will talk about our transplant program and donation team, and why philanthropic donations help us remain one of the nation’s largest and most successful transplant programs. We are currently the fourth largest program in the U.S. and have an international reputation for our research, innovation, patient care and outcome success.
Herb Heneman received a liver transplant in 1991. Over the past 27 years, Herb has expressed his gratitude in many ways: He competed as a swimmer on Team Wisconsin in four different U.S. Transplant Games, he has visited patients and talked to families on University Hospital's transplant unit and he currently serves on the transplant program's Patient and Family Advisory Council. "I received support from so many people that I feel a need to pay it forward," he says. "As recipients, we are constantly in the debt of others. It is important for us to acknowledge that - by giving both our time and our money." Herb’s donations provide financial assistance to transplant patients and their families by helping defray the cost of accommodations, travel and other expenses. He is very grateful to live near UW Health and understands that proximity made it much easier for him to receive his care, and he wants to ease that burden for others.