LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky man is celebrating life. Michael Munday is the first person in the state of Kentucky to receive a combined heart and liver transplant.
What You Need To Know
- Michael Munday is the first person in the State of Kentucky to receive a combined heart and lung transplant
- Munday is 55 years old
- A team of 5 transplant surgeons and dozens of medical staff worked together for roughly 12 hours on the procedure
- Surgeons performed the procedure on March 22, 2022
For 22 days, Michael Munday stayed in the hospital getting better.
“[Recovery] wasn’t too horribly bad, ‘cause the worst part was laying in the bed.” Munday said. “I wanted [to get] up. I wanted to go home.”
Almost 10 years ago, Munday started having heart trouble. His doctors told him his heart was working at only about 25% power. In July 2021, his heart problems got worse. He said a “ventricular storm” happened inside his heart. His heart started working at about 10%—and he was back in the hospital.
“That left me severely damaged, and I was life-flighted here and if I hadn’t been, I probably wouldn’t be here today.” Munday explained.
On March 22, a team of five transplant surgeons and dozens of medical staff worked together over 12 hours to do a first-of-its-kind double transplant surgery. Munday is now the first person in Kentucky to get a combined heart and liver transplant.
On Wednesday, Munday reunited with the doctors who saved his life.
“I’m feeling better every day, every week. I think I haven’t got to my potential yet.” Munday said. “Lucky and blessed. It’s hard to explain. It’s very emotional.”
“Mr. Munday put his complete trust in our team [and] did everything we asked him to do. Walked around here with a smile on his face every single day. Couldn’t be nicer, even when he felt terrible,” said Dr. Stephanie Moore, medical director of UofL Health’s Heart Transplant Program and director of the Advanced Heart Therapies Program.
To the donor family, Munday said he hopes to meet them one day.
“I’ll be so happy when the day comes that we might possibly get to meet,” he said.
Until then, he’ll keep pushing forward on his recovery journey.
Munday said his faith is even stronger now. He said he wants to do more work for God now. He said he’s got a new hospital family at Jewish Hospital in Louisville. He said he is going to love his family, his grandkids and watch them grow, prosper and do well in life.