August 2024, Issue 112 Medical Newsletter
A Special Mother's Day Gift: Liver Transplant Patient Celebration
| Business Administration Office, Mr. Yang Wu-Fa |
Hospital Director's Encouragement: Continue to Advance Medical Skills, Optimize Medical Service Quality, and Safeguard Public Health
Shortly after Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital was approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as a "Hospital Qualified to Perform Liver Retrieval and Transplantation Surgery" in September 2023, the hospital successfully completed two living liver transplant surgeries in February and March of this year. Both patients are currently in stable post-operative condition with good recovery. On the eve of Mother's Day, the medical team arranged a celebration on the morning of May 8 for Ms. Fang and Mr. Liang (represented by his filial daughter Ms. Liang who donated part of her liver to save her father). Hospital Director Major General Hsieh Tsung-Pao, who is also the patients' attending physician, led senior hospital executives and the transplant team in cutting a cake to celebrate this truly meaningful Mother's Day.
Ms. Fang, in her fifties,
was the first patient at Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital to receive a living liver transplant. Due to liver cancer and liver cirrhosis with severe ascites, she had been suffering both physically and mentally, and her condition was worsening. After the transplant team conducted a thorough evaluation and identified the best treatment plan, Ms. Fang's eldest son donated part of his liver to his mother to address the urgent situation, fulfilling his filial devotion.
The other patient, Mr. Liang, in his sixties, is a retired Navy Lieutenant Colonel from Penghu County. He developed acute liver failure caused by a hepatitis B flare-up. When medication failed to improve his condition, an urgent liver transplant became necessary. Upon learning of the situation, his second daughter Ms. Liang immediately volunteered to donate part of her liver. After careful preparation by the transplant team, the surgery was successfully completed, and Mr. Liang is now recovering at home.
At the celebration,
Ms. Fang, Ms. Liang, and family members expressed deep gratitude to the medical and nursing teams. Ms. Fang said she felt both heartache and admiration for her eldest son who, despite financial burdens, was willing to donate his liver. Beyond deep gratitude, she gained a profound appreciation for the value of family: "No matter when, being able to save a parent's life is the warmest and happiest moment." Ms. Liang emphasized that as a mother of two children herself, "You don't truly understand your parents' love until you become a parent," and was glad to do her part to extend her father's life. Mrs. Liang was visibly overjoyed at her daughter's filial devotion and her husband's renewed life, calling it the greatest Mother's Day gift. The outpouring of family love moved the entire transplant team and nursing staff present.
In his address, Director Hsieh congratulated both patients and noted that each surgery presented unique challenges. For Ms. Fang, after evaluation, her son successfully donated the left lobe of his liver after overcoming physical challenges;
Mr. Liang's surgery required intricate vascular anastomosis, and since the donor Ms. Liang needed to return to work promptly after surgery, the team specially designed a vertical incision approach instead of the conventional horizontal one to facilitate faster healing. Through the collaborative efforts of the transplant teams from Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital and Tri-Service General Hospital, the transplant surgery was successfully completed. On the eve of Mother's Day, this was a truly meaningful gift not only for the patients and families but also for the medical team.
Finally, the Director stated that Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital will continue to optimize medical service quality, promote medical collaboration and learning exchanges, and actively advance cutting-edge medical technologies to provide superior medical services for military personnel, their dependents, and civilians in the southern region, striving toward "medical service quality comparable to a medical center" and achieving the vision of being "a trusted guardian of military and civilian health," ultimately becoming "the premier hospital of choice in southern Taiwan."
