NOVA

A newborn infant with a defective heart.

Uh, the coordinator was called.

A transplant is her only hope.

It's terrifying.

It's just something we've got to do.

We love her

and just want her to have the best life she can possibly have.

A heart is found that can save her.

But it's hundreds of miles away.

It's a desperate race against time.

No heart yet?

An organ shortage

means thousands of patients wait for months,

even years.

We're desperately short of organ donors.

A quarter of our patients will die.

Waiting for a transplant.

If she doesn't get this now,

within three months, I don't think she would be here anyway.

So that's how critical it is.

Can scientists find new solutions

to the organ crisis?

What we're talking about

is having off-the-shelf tissues.

That's awesome.

Courageous families face wrenching decisions.

Our whole world has been turned upside down.

In a matter of moments, our life changed.

Everybody pray.

This is the loss of their son.

So if we can have, like, five seconds of silence

to just remember the gift that this family is willing to give

through their son.

And critically ill patients get a new chance at life.

It's exciting.

You know, that's what transplant's about.

And of course it, you know, saves lives.

It transforms lives.

It's a wonderful privilege to be part of that.

"Transplanting Hope,"

right now, on "NOVA."

Major funding for "NOVA" is provided by the following:

A former builder of sets for films and television,

Lee Sanderson is struggling for life.

His lungs are fatally scarred

from exposure to toxic chemicals at his job.

His only hope is a lung transplant.

In another part of the hospital,

Alex Reyda has suffered a fatal brain aneurysm.

He's a 25-year-old.

25-year-old?

Ruptured A.B.M.

But before Alex is removed from life support,

he has one last gift to give.

Heart, liver, lungs, kidney, pancreas,

and then a single kidney.

Alex is an organ donor.

We'd like to take a moment

to thank Alexander for his gift

and for the family for consenting on his behalf.

A moment of silence, please.

Hey, Lee, how are you?

Okay. Good.

So, um...

Good news for you.

There is a donor.

Already? Already.

So I think I warned you it would happen pretty quickly.

Is everyone okay to go ahead?

Mm-hmm, yes.

Thank you.

The next time I see you, you have new lungs,

you're in the I.C.U., okay?

Okay, pancreas is coming out.

Thanks...

A donor like Alex can potentially give eight organs

and save eight lives.

Lee got his new lungs from a different donor.

Three days after his transplant,

they're ready to breathe on their own.

Deep breath... nice, slow, deep breaths, remember?

Okay, you ready?

One, two, three.

Nice deep breath in.

Cough it all out for me.

Keep coughing.

Cough it out, honey. Keep coughing.

Lee, can you say hi?

Hello. Hi, honey.

Lee received his new lungs in Canada.

In the United States,

there are 116,000 people waiting for transplants.

Another name is added to the list

every ten minutes.

And 20 people die each day

because they don't get the organs they need.

Canada's population is much smaller,

but organ donation here is less common,

so the shortage is just as critical.

Organ donation, relatively speaking,

it's not a big volume of patients

that we're talking about in the country.

And although it's a relatively rare event,

it is such an important impact event,

because we know that organ donors

can save many, many lives.

The stakes are never higher

than when a newborn needs a transplant.

Harlow Bergen is just two weeks old.

She was born with a fatal heart defect.

Only a transplant can save her.

But for infants,

donated hearts are extremely rare.

And even if she gets a transplant,

Harlow could face lifelong health problems,

starting with the possibility

that her body might reject the new heart.

I think we all agree that transplant for sure

gives her the best chance to lead as close as possible

to normal life.

You do know, however, too,

that it's not going to be a walk in the park.

It is exchanging a life-threatening situation

in which she is now,

with kind of a chronic disease,

or chronic abnormality.

So you know that she will, lifelong,

depend on taking medications.

And in children that are immune-suppressed,

that can cause a lymphoma,

which is basically a type of leukemia,

and that's not that uncommon.

But I think it's in all fairness important

for you to be aware of that as a possible option.

But also be aware that 90% of our kids

do really, really well.

Yeah, you think

about going through the whole heart transplant

and then maybe later on dealing with cancer

or something like that.

It's terrifying.

It's just something we've got to do.

We love her and just want her

to have the best life she can possibly have,

so...

I don't know if we really have many options

at this point. No.

Good morning.

All across Canada,

organ donation teams will now be on alert

for a heart for Harlow.

Karen!

Yeah.

Watch your pulmonal bleed.

Yeah.

Karen Elgert is overseeing the search.

Pulmonal bleed gone.

Yup, on, in.

Perfused.

Karen is a nurse with HOPE,

the hospital's Human Organ Procurement team.

Once a family decides to donate,

she coordinates the whole process.

So it's gonna be... Okay, O.R. six.

O.R. six, yeah.

Wonderful, thank you, Chris.

Karen is in constant contact

with hospitals across the country.

She's the first to know when organs become available.

So I'm actually calling you with, um, a heart offer.

Okay.

Blood type is O-positive.

It's an infant heart, and it was found quickly.

The Bergens have only had to wait for two weeks.

I guess you can kind of guess what's going on,

if we're coming with the big team.

So we actually do have, um, an organ for her...

A little bit smaller child than her.

It's gonna be sometime tonight,

coming out sometime tomorrow morning.

So just wanted to give you a heads up.

We're pretty happy about it, too.

I think it's actually the perfect time,

and it is a very good organ.

Hi, buddy.

Guess what?

Harlow's gonna get a new heart.

Wow!

Yeah, say "yay!"

I prayed for it all week that it would happen this week.

As Judy and Jason brace themselves

for a long night of waiting,

a massive effort gets under way

to retrieve the heart for Harlow.

Now that Karen knows the heart is a match,

she and a team of retrieval surgeons

spring into action.

So we are now en route.

They charter a jet

and take off for a hospital