This year’s edition of Transplant Day was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the first successful liver transplant in patient Gheorghe Penea. On this occasion, His Eminence Varlaam Ploieșteanu, Patriarchal Vicar Bishop, read the decision no. 8/2025 by which the Holy Great Martyr Gheorghe, the bearer of victory, becomes the Patron Saint of Liver Transplantation in Romania.
Then, the patients Gheorghe Penea, Timeea Balogh – the first child transplanted with a liver fragment from the mother, Mihaela Bălămean – the first case of domino transplant in the world for familial hypercholesterolemia, Anca Ștefan, Olga Gociman – professor at the Faculty of Architecture and designer of the new buildings of Fundeni Hospital and Father Dan Liviu Cojan, whose wife was the first woman in Romania to give birth after a liver transplant, spoke.
It was emphasized that liver transplantation can produce excellent results at a distance, with an excellent quality of life. Children transplanted over 20 years ago are now adults, have started families and have children of their own. The adults have fulfilled many of their dreams and are leading normal lives.
On this occasion, a number of doctors who were involved in the introduction and development of this exceptional therapeutic method in Romania received the anniversary medal “25 years of liver transplantation in Romania”.
In the speeches, it was emphasized that the “mother” program at the Fundeni Clinical Institute gave rise to other programs at three other hospitals in Bucharest – Sfânta Maria Clinical Hospital, Grigore Alexandrescu Children’s Emergency Clinical Hospital and Sanador Hospital -, as well as at the Republican Hospital in Chișinău, Sfântu Spiridon Hospital in Iași and the Regional Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Cluj-Napoca. The Romanian liver transplant school is strong today, and the pioneers have passed the baton to the next generation.
It was emphasized that none of these goals could have existed without the act of organ donation, an embodiment of the altruism and humanity of families in one of the most difficult moments, but in which they had the power to offer a new chance at life to so many unknown fellow human beings.
A moment of silence was held in memory of those who have passed away among us and the commitment was reiterated to never waste such a new chance at life, given the increasing number of patients on waiting lists and the decrease in the number of donors in recent years (75 donors in 2024, compared to almost 150 in 2013 and 2014).