Eliott's Insight: UM/Jackson Transplant Unit Giving The "Gift Of Life" For 40 Years

Tired of hearing bad news about Jackson Memorial Hospital? Well, here's some great news: The Miami Transplant Institute at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center is one of the best in the nation.

The transplant unit at UM/Jackson is marking its 40th anniversary this year and making it a point to let the community know about the miracles they perform on a regular basis. Two of those miracles—Ronnie Walker and Andrea Kessler—joined me for a taping of News & Views.

Walker is a former University of Miami football player who underwent a heart transplant at UM/Jackson last May. After suffering a stroke, he discovered his heart was enlarged and couldn't walk a flight of stairs.

"I still wonder at times if I am really here," Walker said. "The reality of it has not totally sunk in."

Kessler, a Fort Lauderdale attorney, underwent a kidney-pancreas transplant in 1990 followed by a second kidney transplant in 1998.

"They are absolutely fantastic," Kessler said about the UM/Jackson transplant unit. "They have a high success rate and a low mortality rate for the amount of transplants that they do."

Walker said he once idolized sports stars, but now his heroes are the doctors and staff at UM/Jackson as well as the organ donors and their families who made the tough decision to donate organs during their time of grief.

"If people did not donate organs I would not be here," says Walker.

"It's the gift of life," Kessler said about being an organ donor. "You never know when you or a member of your family will need an organ. Being a donor is the best thing you can do at the end of your life."