Then a second surgical team, led by Dr. David Bruce, assistant professor of surgery and director of pancreas transplantation at the University of Chicago, transplanted the kidney and pancreas. No information about the donor is available. Powers has been awake and alert and breathing on his own since the day after the operation. Powers suffered from diabetes, which destroyed the insulin-producing cells of his pancreas, leading to kidney damage and blocked coronary arteries, common complications of diabetes. His son, who also had diabetes, died from complications of the disease in 1995.
Powers also has a daughter who lives in New Mexico.
The University of Chicago has been a leader in transplantation since the very beginning. In 1904, University of Chicago surgeon Alexis Carrel pioneered the surgical techniques of organ transplantation and performed the first heart transplant in a dog. Carrel won the Nobel Prize for this work in 1912. All rights reserved. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, and medical advice and services are not being offered.