Man Given 6 Months To Live Receives Groundbreaking Multi-Organ Transplant

A man with a rare type of cancer that was given six months to live is now alive and well thanks to a first-of-its-kind multi-organ transplant procedure.

33-year-old Andy Voge, who was living in Minnesota at the time, first noticed a bulge on his abdomen in January 2019.

When he went to the doctor, he was told it was just an umbilical hernia, but blood work showed that his liver enzymes levels were off.

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The following day, he had an ultrasound done, which revealed masses in his liver. A CT scan showed cancer of his appendix.

He was then diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), a rare cancer that usually starts with a tumor in your appendix. Once it enters your abdomen, more tumors form and make mutinous fluid that eventually fills up your stomach. This build-up of fluid can push on other body parts, affect other organs, and become fatal.

Unfortunately, his cancer would not respond to regular chemotherapy, and he would need surgery to remove as much of the tumor and mucus as possible to relieve pressure on other organs.

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During the first surgery, doctors also removed his gallbladder, spleen, appendix and omentum, but there was still some tumor left around his liver and stomach.

Everything was going well for a while until Voge was told that his tumor was growing back again and most of what they removed had grown back.

As the days went on, Voge felt sicker and sicker. He was vomiting every day, malnourished and dehydrated, due to intestinal blockages from his cancer.

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Unfortunately, another surgery to remove the tumor was not possible. He was put on a feeding tube, and at the end of January 2021, he had a hole in his bowel that doctors were unable to get through.

At this point, Voge was given around six months left to live, so he and his wife began looking into hospice, and he called family and friends to say his goodbyes.

But a few weeks later, he would receive a phone call that would change his life.

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Dr. Anil Vaidya, who recently moved from the U.K. to the Cleveland Clinic, reached out to Voge’s doctor to discuss a multi-organ transplant. This was something Dr. Vaidya had performed in the U.K. before, but it has never been done in the United States to treat this type of cancer.

During a multi-organ transplant, all of the affected organs would be removed and replaced with healthy organs.

Although it’s a major procedure and very scary, Voge felt like this was his last hope and wanted to give it a try.

Photo: YouTube/TODAY

He was put on the transplant list and had to wait until a donor was found. While waiting, his health was declining and his liver was shutting down.

Luckily, they got a call just in time that they found a match. Voge would receive all seven organs from the same donor.

During the 17-hour surgery, Dr. Vaidya removed Voge’s liver, stomach, pancreas and intestines before clearing out the tumor and transplanting the healthy donor organs.

Photo: YouTube/TODAY

Voge recovered well and is doing great. Today, he can eat like normal again and has even biked for 30 miles.

Voge and Dr. Vaidya hope his story will give other patients and doctors hope about what is possible.

“Even in those darkest moments, there was always something to fight for,” Voge told TODAY.

Hear more of this incredible story in the video below:

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