Man has new lease on life after getting first triple organ transplant performed in New York
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A surgery at Mount Sinai made history and gave a 64-year-old man a new lease on life.
Doctors performed the first heart, liver, and kidney triple organ transplant in New York State.
It's an extremely rare procedure with only 58 ever being done in the country.
Mack Godbee is living his best life after not one, but three organ transplants.
The 64-year-old got a new heart, liver and kidney in one marathon surgery at Mount Sinai.
"It was somewhere around 22 hours. It's funny, though for me, as soon as I start operating, it always feels like the case is 15 minutes," Dr. Sandy Florman said.
Doctor Sandy Florman performed both the liver and kidney portions of the surgery.
Dr. Noah Moss is Godbee's cardiologist.
"We talk about being alive but we also talk about living and he's truly living a much better life than he was," Dr. Noah Moss said.
The story of what brought Godbee to this point?
Godbee's career involves saving lives.
He's the captain of his town's ambulance corps in Peekskill and he's also a prior recipient of a heart transplant.
His first one, well, outlasted expectations.
"His heart transplant had lasted 23 years. Listen, after 23 years, there's a price to pay for just being on medications, and just for getting older," Dr. Florman said.
Godbee's kidneys and liver were paying that price and his heart weakened to the point where he collapsed in his driveway.
"I opened up the back of my car to get a flashlight, and that's all I remember," Godbee said.
His 23-year-old daughter performed CPR, saving his life.
She learned those skills about 10 years ago by tagging along in his CPR classes.
"I'm proud of her and I'm thankful for her," Godbee said.
"The mortality risk is extremely high. The chances of not making it out of the operating room are very high," Dr. Florman said.
Godbee's survival highlights the power of organ donation and opens the door for others like him in the future.
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