Medical Workers' Day: Doctors in Henan manage to save two people with one liver

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Now we have the story of a team of doctors in China who brought hope to two families with the transplantation of one liver. CGTN's ZHENG CHUNYING has more.

After paying a last silent tribute...

Doctors at Zhoukou Central Hospital in Henan Province removed the liver of a patient who died tragically in a car accident.

The liver, weighing 1600 grams, was divided into two, one for saving an adult, and the other for a child.

The transplantation operations were to take place in just a few hours.

To the doctors, that was indeed a race against time.

Before the liver arrived, Doctor Guo and his team had already made comprehensive assessments of it.

GUO WENZHI DOCTOR "The quality of the liver is as good as valued. So we are going to do the transplantations today to save the two patients' lives."

This 8-year-old boy, who suffers from Wilson's disease, is one of the two recipients.

Wilson's disease is a rare inherited illness in which copper builds up in the body.

28-year-old Yuan Xiaojing is the other patient waiting for the transplantation. He's a farmer and a father of two kids, who was recently diagnosed with liver cancer.

According to the doctors, for both patients, only a liver transplantation could prolong their lives and improve their quality of life.

GUO WENZHI DOCTOR "Many patients have lost their lives because of a lack of transplant livers available. That's why we tried liver separation. We strive to do even just one more organ transplantation. We are dedicated to bringing more hope to patients."

And that was really what Dr. Guo and his team did at the end of the day.

After over ten hours, the doctors managed to transplant the liver into the bodies of the two patients.

For the patients, it must have been an unforgettable day of revival.

But for the doctors, perhaps it was just a day like many others, saving lives and bringing hope.

ZHENG CHUNYING, CGTN.