A Mission Valley man is the first person to successfully undergo a heart and liver transplant in San Diego.
“When I first walked in here, I was just falling apart,” Frank “Sonny” Taitano said Thursday from his bed at UC San Diego Medical Center.
Taitano, 58, is one of just a handful of people who can say they survived such an operation.
Fewer than 10 of these surgeries are performed each year in the U.S.
First diagnosed with congestive heart failure and an enlarged heart 11 years ago, Taitano underwent a number of treatments but nothing seemed to work.
Simple things like walking from his car to his apartment suddenly became a challenge.
“He's got to fight and I kept telling him, ‘Just keeping fighting,’” said his wife Linda. “We still have a lot to do in life.”
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Alan Hemming, M.D. handled the liver transplant and he said there were several times when Taitano's condition deteriorated prior to the surgery.
“There were at least three times where we thought he was going to die,” Hemming said.
The surgery on November 4 lasted about 10 hours and at one point up to 70 people from UC San Diego Health were in the operating room.
A team Taitano now considers part of his family.
"California is unfortunately one of the worst states in the country to need a liver transplant in," Hemming said.
About 1 in 5 people on the waiting list will die, he said.
"The only way we can improve that is to have more people donate," Hemming said. "Donations save lives."
Taitano chokes up when he thinks about the people who donated the organs that gave him a second chance at life.
He still has family in his native Guam. and h's looking forward to spending time with his wife, six children and 13 grandchildren.
He hopes to leave the hospital before the Christmas holiday.
Organs from one donor can save or help as many as 50 people. To register click here.
