Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
At the age of 15, Kate Sutherland was told that she only had months to live.
Kate was diagnosed with pulmonary occlusive disease, a rare and fatal condition. She needed a lung transplant, but it was unlikely she would survive long enough to receive one.
In order to buy her more time to be matched with a life-saving organ donor, The Toronto Lung Transplant Program at UHN's Ajmera Transplant Centre suggested a procedure that had never been done before.
This unprecedented procedure bridged Kate to her transplant. She became the first teenager in the world to receive a Novalung and her remarkable recovery has become an inspirational tale for patients, surgeons and organ donors.
Read Kate's full story here: bit.ly/42JHD7K
UHN is Canada's No. 1 hospital and the world's No. 1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 20,000 members of TeamUHN, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education at UHN and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care.
At the age of 15, Kate Sutherland was told that she only had months to live.
Kate was diagnosed with pulmonary occlusive disease, a rare and fatal condition. She needed a lung transplant, but it was unlikely she would survive long enough to receive one.
In order to buy her more time to be matched with a life-saving organ donor, The Toronto Lung Transplant Program at UHN's Ajmera Transplant Centre suggested a procedure that had never been done before.
This unprecedented procedure bridged Kate to her transplant. She became the first teenager in the world to receive a Novalung and her remarkable recovery has become an inspirational tale for patients, surgeons and organ donors.
Read Kate's full story here: bit.ly/42JHD7K
UHN is Canada's No. 1 hospital and the world's No. 1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 20,000 members of TeamUHN, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education at UHN and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care.
