California single father undergoes rare triple organ transplant after sarcoidosis
A single father from Southern California is feeling like a new person after undergoing a rare and risky triple organ transplant that had him under the knife for 20 hours.
Valance Sams Sr. received a new heart, liver and kidney at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles during a procedure that only 45 others have had in the last 36 years.
‘I’m feeling good, great, awesome,’ Sams said. ‘It’s night and day.’
The surgery comes 10 years after Sams was first diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that caused a buildup of scar tissue on his heart.
Prior to his procedure, the dad was unable to work or walk. Now, he’s back to exercising and walking with his son, who helped nurse him back to health.
Valance Sams Sr. (right) received a new heart, liver, and kidney at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles during a procedure that only 45 others have had in the last 36 years
‘I’m feeling good, great, awesome,’ Sams (pictured) said. ‘It’s night and day’
The surgery was possible thanks to a team effort that included doctors from numerous departments at the Los Angeles based hospital.
At one time, Sams’ primary physicians were working with up to 15 other doctors.
‘The coordination starts long before we even get to the operating room,’ said Dr. Justin Steggerda, Sams’ kidney surgeon.
The procedure has been a long time coming for Sams who was on a strict medication and treatment plan before his organs began failing earlier this year.
Sams’ sarcoidosis and its effects on the heart led to other health issues that impacted his kidney and liver.
‘If the heart’s not working, it can cause something called congestive hepatopathy in the liver, where the liver just starts not to work very well, and can cause chronic and permanent damage of the liver, and then it can also cause stress on the kidneys as well,’ said Irene Kim, director of the Cedars-Sinai transplant center.
His intense treatment schedule required a full-time caregiver, which became his son Valance ‘Vee’ Sams Jr.
As a teenager, Vee took on the role of nurse, counting out medications and helping his father prepare meals every day.
‘I was basically his personal nurse,’ Vee said.
‘I made sure everything was OK, he wasn’t missing appointments. I made sure his medicines [were] OK, you know, changing his bags for dialysis,’ he said.
‘I was basically his personal nurse,’ Valance ‘Vee’ Sams Jr. said of his father’s health issues
Dr. Tyler Gunn, Sams’ cardiothoracic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
The triple organ procedure transplanted the heart, liver and kidney
‘The coordination starts long before we even get to the operating room,’ said Dr. Justin Steggerda (pictured), Sams’ kidney surgeon
While talking with Cedars-Sinai, Sams got emotional talking about his son’s role in helping to keep him healthy and alive over the years.
‘Since the beginning, he’s been like my nurse, my best friend, my brother,’ he said.
Earlier this year, Sams got the call that a heart, kidney and liver were all available for him after spending two months in the hospital for his failing organs.
Doctors quickly got to work procuring the organs and prepping for the rare surgery.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, fewer than 50 people have received the same organ transplants since they began tracking in 1987.
‘Since then, the average has been only about 1.5 of these surgeries per year in the U.S., more frequently within the last five years as providers and surgeons get more comfortable with the operations and technology,’ Gunn said.
The order of the transplants is decided by how each organ’s ischemic time – the length of how long the organ can survive outside the body.
The heart has the longest ischemic time, followed by liver, then kidney.
The surgery took 20 hours and more than a dozen doctors and health care professionals
Irene Kim, director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center
The single father is already back to some of his favorite hobbies including coaching youth football. Vee too is back to the things he loves and has enrolled in film school
Now, Sams’ doctors say he has a great chance at full recovery if he follows his medications and treatment plan dutifully.
The single father is already back to some of his favorite hobbies including coaching youth football. Vee too is back to the things he loves and has enrolled in film school.
‘The little things are so important,’ Sams said. ‘We take advantage of a lot of little things, but now I know that those little things are where it’s at.’