According to doctors at the hospital, Fu has recovered fully from the surgery, which was performed on February 16, and is now well on his way to regaining a healthy life. The cost of the operation, which took more than nine hours, was covered by the hospital.

Fu, who was born with a weak liver, was infected with Hepatitis B in 1986. Eight years later, he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Doctors said the deterioration of the liver was too fast for a man at his age. Since 1998, Fu's disease had become worse and he was hospitalized several times after falling into a coma.

Until the surgery, physicians had given Fu just one year to live.

"Fu's disease is quite serious," says Peng Zhihai, the chief surgeon who performed the liver transplant. "If the surgery were not performed, Fu could only live for another year at most."

Fu knew of the risks and consequences before he went for the surgery.

"Before I went to the No. 1 People's Hospital, I was staying in a hospital for infectious diseases and all of my wardmates died from the same disease as mine," Fu said. "When I heard the transplant surgery could bring a ray of hope to me, I decided to try it, although I might as well die even earlier."

Fu's surgery came one month after the hospital's first successful liver transplant, according to Peng. "The first recipient has recovered very well, so we gained the confidence to do the second."

Peng, also the deputy principal of the hospital, said because of Fu's kidney's failure, the surgeons decided to perform a double transplant, which was divided into two parts. The liver transplant was performed first by Peng, and the kidney transplant was done afterwards by Xu Da, a chief surgeon of the hospital's Urinary Department.

"The first operation lasted eight hours," says Peng. "During that period, Fu had lived for 90 minutes without a liver."

"It was the most dangerous period of the surgery," Peng said. "Because the blood circulation was disturbed, Fu's blood pressure dropped sharply. This made Fu nearly die on the operation table. My assistants hadn't told me this until the surgery was over."

The kidney transplant went smoothly in the hospital, which has performed more than 1,000 since its first kidney surgery was performed in 1976. In China, liver transplants began in the 1980s. Before 1983, the liver transplant lasted more than 20 hours. By 1999, 252 liver transplants had been performed.

To date, the oldest-living organ recipient has survived for more than six years. Three or four years ago, the first liver and kidney combination transplant were performed in China. So far, around 10 liver and kidney combination transplants have been performed.

"The liver transplant is meaningful to China," says Peng. "For in the country, one out of 10 people are the carriers for Hepatitis B virus.

Peng said a shortage of organs for transplant has been a major problem for the medical community.

New regulations, which certify a person's being deceased at the point of brain death, are being discussed by lawmakers.

"If we Chinese people can change our traditional minds to a human body, more patients like Fu can be saved," says Peng. "We hope the brain dead law can be passed soon."

Peng, 43, acquired his doctorate at the Tongji Hospital, which is affiliated with the medicine college of Tongji University. He had studied in Austria Graz University for one year and studied liver transplants in the Mount Sinai Hospital, affiliated to the New York University and Massachusetts State University for three months.

Peng says he is very excited about his first two liver transplant surgeries. The first recipient will leave the hospital in another two weeks and Fu, Peng believes, will be released in two months.

"I feel very well and I am sure I can go back to work," says Fu. "Dr. Peng is even more confident than me that he said he will be a matchmaker for me."

(EastDay.com 03/05/2001)