UChicago Medicine Performs Illinois' 1st 36-Hour Quadruple Transplant for 28-Year-Old Cystic Fibrosis Patient
Updated
Updated · UChicago Medicine · May 20
UChicago Medicine Performs Illinois' 1st 36-Hour Quadruple Transplant for 28-Year-Old Cystic Fibrosis Patient
3 articles · Updated · UChicago Medicine · May 20
A 36-hour operation at UChicago Medicine replaced Jasmine Jones’ two lungs, liver and kidney after cystic fibrosis drove her liver and kidneys toward failure.
Drug-resistant bacteria in Jones’ diseased lungs pushed surgeons to expand the planned liver-kidney transplant, removing both lungs to protect the donor organs once immunosuppression began.
Jan. 5 surgery unfolded in stages: surgeons implanted donor lungs, then a liver kept viable on a warm-blood perfusion device, and added the kidney the next day after ICU recovery.
Six weeks in the hospital and further inpatient rehabilitation later, Jones is back in outpatient rehab with rising energy, while doctors continue monitoring her pancreas for possible future replacement.
The case was the first known quadruple transplant of its kind in Illinois and only the sixth in the U.S., underscoring how cystic fibrosis can damage multiple organs even as newer modulators reduce some lung transplants.
What is the true lifelong cost—physical and financial—of surviving a 'miracle' quadruple organ transplant?
How does giving four organs to one patient change the ethics of organ donation for everyone else on the waiting list?
As medicine performs miracles, are we closer to regenerating our own organs instead of replacing them?
Quadruple Organ Transplant Breakthrough: Jasmine Jones’s 2026 Surgery and the Future of Multi-Organ Transplantation
Overview
In January 2026, UChicago Medicine achieved a historic medical milestone by performing a quadruple organ transplant on Jasmine Jones, who was suffering from severe cystic fibrosis. The disease had caused extensive damage to her lungs, heart, liver, and pancreas, leaving her on life support and in urgent need of intervention. A highly skilled team carried out the complex, 20-hour surgery, transplanting all four organs at once—a world first. Following the operation, Jasmine made remarkable progress, regaining her strength and independence, and her recovery offers hope for others facing similar life-threatening conditions.