Northwestern Medicine surgeons perform awake kidney transplant with next-day discharge

John and Pat from NMH

Nicholas' best friend from grade school donated a kidney to him

Nicholas began having problems with his kidneys when he was 16, after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease a few years earlier. Routine tests revealed that his kidney function was declining, and further tests found that he had inflammation in his kidneys, which was causing damage, but no underlying cause was found.

He avoided dialysis and managed with medication, but after moving to Chicago in early 2022 and undergoing treatment at Northwestern Medicine, it became clear that his kidney function was declining and he would eventually need a kidney transplant.

Nicholas is grateful to his nephrologists at Northwestern Medicine. Sibel Ghossain, MDThank you for guiding us through the pre-transplant testing and helping to extend the life of his natural kidney as long as possible.

But finding a donor for Nicholas was hard. Nicholas's mother was originally intended to be the donor, but she was diagnosed with breast cancer and couldn't donate. So Nicholas turned to a group of friends he'd known since elementary school, growing up in Zionsville, a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. His best friend, Pat Wise, 29, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and works for a public health agency, remembers getting the email.

“I was in the kitchen making dinner when John texted me, 'The doctor says it's time to start looking for a kidney donor.' I stared at my phone and without hesitation filled out the form that night,” Wise said. “John is a good friend. He needed a kidney, and I had a spare kidney. I needed to at least explore being a possible donor for him.”

Wise was found to be a match and traveled to Chicago, where surgeons removed one of his kidneys and transplanted it into Nicholas.