Couple received life changing care

For three years, Victoria, 73, waited for a kidney. For months, Wayne prepared for open heart surgery. Neither could have imagined that both life changing moments would arrive in the same hospital on the very same day.

The Thorntons of Lascassas, Tenn.came to Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West in Nashville for Wayne’s scheduled coronary artery bypass graft with Dr. Amber Edwards, cardiothoracic surgeon at Ascension Saint Thomas. After a successful surgery, he was stable in the ICU. Trusting he was in good hands, she went home late that night to rest.

Just hours later, at 2:39 a.m., her phone rang. Expecting news about her husband, she was stunned to hear something else entirely. A kidney had become available for her.

With barely a moment to think, she woke her daughter, and within the hour they were racing back to Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West.

When she arrived, care teams moved quickly to prepare her for surgery. Before she was taken to the pre-operation room, nurses worked above and beyond to bring Wayne down from the ICU in a wheelchair so the two could see each other one more time before her transplant.

“He still had chest tubes and was in pain,” Victoria shared. “But they made sure we could say goodbye before my surgery. That meant the world to us.”

Later that evening, she received her kidney transplant from Dr. Jacfranz Guiteau, kidney transplant surgeon at Ascension Saint Thomas, while her husband continued to recover upstairs.

“It truly felt like a modern day miracle,” she said.

Just days earlier, her husband had been receiving care at Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford. When his condition grew more complex, he was transferred to Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West. At the time, it felt like just another difficult turn in an already long journey. In hindsight, it became an unexpected blessing.

“My daughter would have been running all over town,” Victoria said. “Instead, she was just going between two floors.”

As word spread, their family rushed in from across the country. When post transplant medication caused frightening side effects, her daughter never left her side. Church friends delivered meals. Every need was met, and every detail was covered with compassion.

Then came another moment no one could have predicted.

They went home on the same day.

“It took days to truly believe it,” she said. “That I had a kidney. That my husband was going to be healthy again. That we were both walking out together.”

Now both 73, the couple is already back to doing what they love most, staying active. Stationary bikes, walking, and weights have long been part of their daily routine, and they believe that commitment helped speed their recovery.

They are also looking ahead to something they put on hold for far too long, traveling again.

“We have a motorhome,” she said. “For three years, we could not travel because of dialysis. After my one year transplant anniversary, we are planning to hit the road again.”

This Christmas will carry even more meaning. Their daughter lives just two miles away with their three granddaughters. And during that same remarkable hospital stay, their great grandson was born.

“So many blessings all at once,” Victoria said.

Through it all, their journey has been deeply shared. For two years, she managed peritoneal dialysis at home, a daily treatment that used the lining of her belly to gently clean her blood, followed by nearly a year of hemodialysis, where her blood was cleaned by a machine during regular visits to the clinic. Her husband served as her care partner every step of the way.

“We have really walked this road together,” she said.

Today, they are both healing, both hopeful, and grateful for the care they received, the family that surrounded them, and the miracles that unfolded within the walls of Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West.

Learn more about kidney and heart care at Ascension Saint Thomas by visiting ascension.org/SaintThomas.