Record Year for Organ Transplants at Nebraska Medical Center
More than 390 people began 2025 with something they didn’t have in 2024: healthy, new organs!
In 2024, Nebraska Medical Center achieved new records for the number of kidney, liver, and lung transplants performed in a year:
188 kidney transplants
150 liver transplants
17 lung transplants
41 heart transplants (fourth busiest year ever)
Thirteen patients received transplants involving multiple organs that included a kidney or a liver.
Nebraska Medicine is home to a robust living donor kidney exchange program, performing more kidney chains (series of transplants between strangers) than almost any hospital nationwide. Living organ donations provide greater success rates compared to donations from deceased donors. This year 59 transplants involved living donors.
Eleven-year-old Jailyn Mason, from Houston, TX, received multiple new organs in November, including a kidney, liver, pancreas, small bowel and colon.
“We have been to a few states for care, and I have to say wholeheartedly, Nebraska Medicine has set the bar very high with their standard of care,” says Jailyn’s mother, Dyshica Bradley. “I knew we were home. To finally have health care with intention has touched my heart. Everyone here cares and it shows.”
Hospitals around the region and nation consistently refer patients to Nebraska Medical Center for transplantation. In 2024, organ recipients came from 18 states.
“I’ve been asked many times what makes Nebraska Medical Center such a standout hospital for organ transplants, and I answer that it’s the people,” says Alan Langnas, DO, chief of transplantation surgery. “Not only do we have extraordinary surgeons, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and other vital team members, but all these people are also Nebraskans. They put the care of our patients first and create lasting bonds with them, just because of the type of people they are. That’s why we care for people from all over the country and maintain relationships with our patients and families for years after their transplants. This is a special place.”
Nebraska Medicine is one of only 10 transplant programs in the country that performs heart, intestinal, kidney, liver, lung and pancreas transplants.