Elizabeth Wehrle of Montezuma went into the hospital in February and this week she gets to go home. In March, she received a first-of-its-kind lifesaving surgery, a quadruple organ transplant.
On this episode of Talk of Iowa, we talk with Elizabeth Wherle and Dr. Ankit Bharat of Northwestern Medicine, the lead surgeon on this groundbreaking procedure. We hear about the health issues that led to these transplants, what this surgical advancement means for future patients and what goes into the decision to perform a surgery that hasn’t been done before.
Then, we talk with Suzanna de Baca, Iowa author of You Were Never Lost: Poems From The Tallgrass Prairie. De Baca didn’t expect to write about grief, but when back at the place where she spent her childhood with a friend who died, poetry and nature helped her grieve.
Guests:
- Elizabeth Wherle, patient, Montezuma resident
- Dr. Anikt Bharat, executive director, Canning Thoracic Institute, Northwestern Medicine
- Suzanna C de Baca, CEO, Story Board Advisors, author, You Were Never Lost: Poems From The Tallgrass Prairie
