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Organ Transplant Donors, Recipients Gather To Celebrate New Chance At Life

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Organ transplant recipients celebrated the gift of life at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

This is a feel good story because a lot of these people are feeling way better than they did a year ago.

Bob Scherer, a lung transplant recipient, is doing great at 75 years old.

"I am going to live to 100, they gave me a 24-year-old lung," he said.

It was a double lung transplant for Rafael Zayas, Jr.

"I weighed 120 pounds when I left," he said. "Now I am back to 165. I feel great, I exercise and enjoy life."

The room was full of those kind of stories.

Doctors, nurses and patients honored those who have gone a year since their transplant.

Sam Madison is known for his time in the NFL, and locally for his heroics with the Miami Dolphins.

Madison donated one of his kidneys to his daughter Kennedy after a kidney disease diagnosis.

"My dad actually gave me my transplant, saved my life," she said. "I am back in sports and doing better."

Sam is a big supporter of the Miami Transplant Institute at Jackson Memorial.

"I feel really blessed to do with I did," Madison said.

As for the doctors, it was a day to reflect on a job well done.

"We participate in the journey where they get a new chance at life and we can see that in real time," said Dr. Rodrigo Vianna.

The MTI performs 450 transplants per year.

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