Man stays awake and witnesses his own surgery after getting kidney from childhood best friend. Watch

Doctors at a US medical centre performed a kidney transplant where the patient stayed awake and spoke with them during the operation. A video of the procedure by the surgeons, shared by Northwestern Medicine, has stunned people and left them surprised. Reportedly, the 28-year-old patient felt no pain during the surgery and was released in less than 24 hours after the operation.

The institute took to X to share the video. “A first at Northwestern Medicine! Go inside the operating room and witness surgeons performing a #KidneyTransplant on a patient who was awake for the entire procedure,” reads the caption. The video shows a group of doctors operating on 28-year-old John Nicholas of Chicago.

What did the doctor say about this procedure?

“This is the first case at Northwestern Medicine where a patient was awake during an entire kidney transplant procedure and went home the next day, basically making this an outpatient procedure. Our hope is that awake kidney transplantation can decrease some of the risks of general anesthesia while also shortening a patient’s hospital stay,” Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, transplant surgeon and director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center, said in a statement.

“Inside the operating room, it was an incredible experience being able to show a patient what their new kidney looked like before placing it inside the body,” the doctor added.

John Nicholas’ experience:

“It was a pretty cool experience to know what was happening in real time and be aware of the magnitude of what they were doing,” said Nicholas. “At one point during surgery, I recall asking, ‘should I be expecting the spinal anaesthesia to kick in?’ They had already been doing a lot of work and I had been completely oblivious to that fact. Truly, no sensation whatsoever. I had been given some sedation for my own comfort, but I was still aware of what they were doing. Especially when they called out my name and told me about certain milestones they had reached,” he explained.

Getting a kidney from a childhood friend:

Nicholas started having kidney issues when he was just 16 years old. Over the years, his kidney function declined, and eventually, he needed a transplant. Reportedly, his best friend, 29-year-oldPat Wise, stepped in and decided to give his organ.

“I was in my kitchen cooking dinner and John sent a message that read, ‘my doctor says it’s time for me to start looking for kidney donors.’ I stared at my phone and without hesitating, filled out the form that night,” said Wise. “John is a good friend. He needed a kidney, and I had an extra one. I had to at least explore the potential of being his donor,” he added.

Take a look at the video of the surgery here:

The video has over 35,000 views and nearly 300 likes. People shared varied reactions in the comments section.

While one individual wrote, “Amazing. Congratulations to the team,” another added, “I’m not sure I would enjoy being awake for this surgery.”

A third chimed in and posted, “Why awake?”

In the statement, the hospital also answered why they chose to keep Nicholas awake during the surgery. “This option may open the door to increase access to transplantation for patients who are high-risk to undergo general anesthesia, while also decreasing the length of a transplant patient’s hospital stay,” reads a part of the statement. In future, the hospital plans to establish the AWAKE Program (Accelerated Surgery Without General Anesthesia in Kidney Transplantation) for those patients who cannot have general anaesthesia or have a high risk of it.