A long “bridge of life” was set up today in the early morning hours between Athens and Thessaloniki for four people, starting from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Henry Dunant and the organ donation of a 54-year-old patient who lost her battle for life to cerebral haemorrhage.

The family of the unfortunate patient, a mother of two minors who was diagnosed with brain stem death after undergoing the required clinical tests, bravely decided to make a “gift of life” to other patients, by donating her vital organs. This was followed by a multi-hour operation to obtain the organs, which mobilized the medical and nursing staff of Henry Dunant, under the general supervision of the Hellenic Transplant Organization, which also determined the selection of recipients.

In particular, compatible patients were found for the heart (at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre), the liver (at the Hippokratio Hospital of Thessaloniki) and the kidneys of the donor (with two compatible kidney recipients, one at the Laiko Hospital of Athens and one at the Hippokratio Hospital of Thessaloniki, respectively).

It should be noted that, since its opening, the ICU of Henry Dunant has played a leading part in transplants and body organ donation, by contributing to the utilization of approximately 450 transplants that have given life to a respective number of fellow human beings.