A Surgeon Moved by a 'Warm Motherly Love'

[Financial News] “I was trying hard to exercise to give my son a healthy kidney, but almost faced a setback. I am just grateful to Deputy Director Yoonjun Kim and On Hospital for their quick decision to perform the surgery.”

On the 6th, A (female, 56), who successfully received a right femur reduction surgery from Yoonjun Kim, Deputy Director of the Joint Center at On Hospital in Busan (Orthopedic Specialist), recalled the frightening moment before discharge and repeatedly expressed gratitude to her attending physician.
A fell while riding a bicycle on the Nakdong River road in Changnyeong, Gyeongnam on the morning of the 5th, a weekend. She quickly got up and composed herself, but the pain in her hip area was severe. She was terrified. She was worried that her plan to donate a kidney to her son, who was scheduled for a kidney transplant surgery a week later, would fall through.
She immediately visited a nearby hospital in Changwon and was diagnosed with a femur fracture. At 3 p.m. on the same day, A visited the emergency center of On Hospital in Busanjin-gu, Busan, where she lives, and urgently explained her situation, needing to donate an organ to her son, who was to undergo a kidney transplant at a hospital in Seoul on the 16th, and pleaded for emergency surgery.
Upon hearing this touching story from the emergency center doctor, Yoonjun Kim, Deputy Director of the Joint Center, decided on an emergency surgery the next day, Sunday, after explaining the patient's condition in detail over the phone with A's daughter.
Before the surgery, Yoonjun Kim collaborated with Imsoo Kwak, Head of the Nephrology Department (former Chief Professor of Nephrology at Pusan National University Hospital), to check the precautions for A's surgery, who was about to donate an organ. He meticulously checked whether any of the drugs used during the surgery would impair kidney function.
Above all, he was concerned about A's recovery state after the fracture surgery.
Femur fractures can take at least 6 to 12 weeks or more to heal, and the degree of bone union at the fracture site, pain management, and mobility are key factors to consider before surgery.
Through collaboration with the Nephrology Department, Yoonjun Kim comprehensively analyzed and evaluated not only the current kidney function status of the patient but also the use of antibiotics after the fracture surgery, blood coagulation status, and degree of physical decline.
Yoonjun Kim successfully performed an open reduction and internal fixation on A under spinal anesthesia.
The surgery was completed in less than an hour, but the process was not easy. The femur was severely shattered, and it was very difficult to fit it correctly due to the involvement of soft tissue.
Yoonjun Kim prescribed collagen injections into the soft tissue to aid in the recovery and reconstruction of the soft tissue around the femur, which had suffered defects or damage due to severe rupture, and devoted himself to ensuring that A could smoothly donate an organ to her son during the upcoming transplant surgery.
A said, “I planned to transplant a kidney to my son since last year, but the hospital suggested using my organ as much as possible, so the transplant surgery was scheduled for July 16 this year.” She added, “I was exercising hard, like riding a bicycle, to give my son a healthy organ, but due to an unexpected accident, I almost ruined not only my life but also my son’s. Fortunately, On Hospital made a quick decision to perform an emergency surgery on Sunday, and I am very grateful.”
Currently hospitalized at On Hospital, A is expected to be discharged next week and plans to donate her kidney to her son in his early 30s at O Hospital in Seoul in August.
Yoonjun Kim, Deputy Director of the Joint Center at On Hospital, said, “I have performed thousands of hip surgeries, but I have never been so nervous as this time.” He added, “I hope both mother and son's surgeries are successful, and I pray for the success of A's son's upcoming organ transplant surgery, wishing the whole family happiness.”
In Korea, there is a severe shortage of brain-dead organ donors, resulting in a very long waiting period for transplants. As of 2021, the average waiting period for a brain-dead kidney transplant was found to be 2 years, and the waiting period has been increasing compared to the past. The survival rate after kidney transplantation has greatly improved, and there are increasing cases of patients returning to daily life.


lich0929@fnnews.com Byun Ok-hwan Reporter