Pulling a red wagon is physical therapist Chad Doerneman. Behind the wagon is respiratory therapist Katie Stehlik. She carefully navigates a wheeled ventilator and oxygen tank. And inside the wagon is 3-year-old Genesis Sanchez-Vasquez, wearing a flowered dress and black and hot pink sunglasses.
Braylynn Sallinger was born with gastroschisis. Fourteen years later, she and her mother recall the incredible journey and lifesaving treatments Braylynn received from Nebraska Medicine.
When Joseph was born with an incurable liver disease called biliary atresia, he was very sick. His parents, Jenn and Brent Timperley wanted the most advanced care available.
"I had a lot of faith. Never did I ask ‘why me," she says. "I always said, ‘Lord, just please give me the strength to keep fighting.'" Two transplants later, she's thankful she never gave up.
Most of us would never imagine that we would someday need an organ transplant. But yet, more than 40,000 people in the United States receive a life-saving organ transplant each year, and more than 100,000 people are on the waiting list.