A Lurie Children’s First: Dual Heart-Liver Transplant Gives Debron a New Beginning

On April 8, 2025, Debrina’s phone rang with the news she had been waiting for — an organ donor had been found for her 16-year-old son, Debron. His surgery would mark the first-ever dual heart-liver transplant at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. 

“I’ll never forget that call,” Debrina said. “My mom was visiting. The night she came in was the night we got the news.” 

After months of waiting and a lifetime of health complications, the update felt unreal. 

A Path of Resilience 

Debron’s journey toward a transplant began at birth, when he was diagnosed with double inlet left ventricle (DILV) — a form of single-ventricle heart disease where both atria connect to one ventricle, leaving only one chamber to pump blood.
  
At just nine days old, Debron faced his first open-heart surgery. Three more followed before he turned six.

“He has always been resilient, always positive,” Debrina said. “He always took it on the chin.” 

In 2012, Debron was diagnosed with Protein‑Losing Enteropathy (PLE), a condition that causes the body to lose essential proteins through the gastrointestinal tract. It was an early sign that his heart was beginning to fail, and doctors warned a transplant would one day be necessary. In 2023, they discovered that strain from his heart disease had caused multiple lesions on his liver. Suddenly, a liver transplant was inevitable as well. 

“I asked, ‘Can you just do the heart, and maybe the liver will heal itself?’” Debrina said. “They said no — he needed both.” 

A Second Home in Chicago

Their home hospital in Miami next referred Debron to Lurie Children’s. Dual transplants are offered at only a handful of pediatric hospitals nationwide, where highly specialized teams and leading experts come together. Lurie Children’s Siragusa Transplantation Center is recognized as one of the top pediatric transplant centers in the country, not just in volume, but also in patient outcomes. They confirmed Debron was a strong candidate.  

As his condition worsened, plans accelerated. In October 2024, Debron was transported to Lurie Children’s.  

“Leaving like that, we had to drop everything,” Debrina said. “We couldn’t bring anything – just one little suitcase.”  

Debron was added to the organ donation waitlist. He passed time in the hospital by playing video games and staying on top of schoolwork with friends in the Regenstein Cardiac Care Unit (CCU). The Regenstein CCU is one of the few cardiac units in the country designed so that each child remains in the same private room from admission through discharge. 

“It felt like home,” Debrina said. “We have so many friends in our CCU family.” 

Six months later, the call came. After calming his nerves by playing a few quick video games, Debron was wheeled into the operating room. 

Two Organs, One Procedure

To date, less than 45 pediatric dual heart-liver transplants have been performed in the United States. Because both organs need to come from a single donor, procurement is challenging, and collaboration is paramount.  

The transplant was a multidisciplinary effort between some of the top pediatric surgeons in the country at Lurie Children’s. Dr. Michael Mongé, Heart Failure/Heart Transplant Program Surgical Director; Dr. Juan Carlos Caicedo, Transplant & Advanced Hepatobiliary Surgery Division Head; and Dr. David Winlaw, Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgery Division Head coordinated an almost 30-person surgical team. The team consulted with the Northwestern Medicine Organ Transplant Center — who had successfully performed the surgery on adults — to develop the most effective strategy. 

“This dual transplant reflects the strength of Lurie Children’s collaborative infrastructure,” Dr. Caicedo said. “It demanded careful planning and close coordination across our heart, liver and transplant teams — intentionally aligned around a single goal: delivering the best possible outcome for one child.”

The heart and liver remained connected as surgeons guided the organs through the diaphragm. Over the course of 15 hours, two teams worked side by side to complete the transplant. Debron’s family was updated every step of the way. 

The Journey Home

Recovery took time and strength. Debron worked with a team of physical, occupational and respiratory therapists over the course of eight months. 

“Recovering from a procedure like this is a marathon, not a sprint,” his cardiologist Dr. Brian Madden said. “Whatever Debron needed, his family and our team were ready to do. We’re excited to see him go back to school, graduate and live a normal life at home.”  

At Debron’s recent follow-up appointment, he spotted a familiar face: one of his former CCU neighbors. Six-year-old Josie, who received her heart transplant in July, beamed when she saw Debron across the hall.
  
Together, they smiled for a photo with Dr. Mongé, the surgeon who helped make their new hearts — and new beginnings — possible.

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