The liver of a British tourist who was declared brain-dead in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was flown to Antalya via military aircraft and successfully transplanted into a Turkish patient in critical need of an organ.
Ersin Şimşek, 47, a father of two living in Antalya, had been battling liver failure linked to hepatitis B for over a decade. He was first diagnosed with cirrhosis 10 years ago after suffering from severe abdominal pain. As his condition worsened, he endured frequent fluid buildup in his abdomen and dropped from 96 to 81 kilograms in recent weeks.
After applying to the Yaşam Organ Transplant Center in Antalya, Şimşek’s deteriorating condition was reported to the Health Ministry’s National Coordination System for an urgent transplant.
At the same time, a British tourist, Emma Jane Perry, on holiday in the TRNC, suffered a hemorrhage and was declared brain-dead. Her family consented to donate her organs.
Doctors from the transplant center, who had traveled to Muğla for a medical congress, returned immediately upon receiving news of the available liver. To prevent any delays, the Turkish Armed Forces dispatched a military cargo aircraft from the Air Force Command. The medical team traveled to the TRNC, retrieved the organ, and returned to Antalya on the same aircraft.
Under the leadership of Professor Dr. Bülent Aydınlı, the center’s director, the team performed a successful transplant operation on Şimşek.
Still undergoing treatment, Şimşek told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday that none of his family members were suitable donors due to widespread diabetes. With no one to leave his children with, he said he lived in constant anxiety.
“I went from hospital to hospital before ending up here. I have two children, and my daughter is only 13. Who could I entrust her to? An organ donation saves not just the patient, but their whole family,” Şimşek said.
Before the transplant, he said he could barely eat due to pain and had to count every bite. “After the surgery, with this new liver, I feel like I’ve been reborn. Unless you’ve lived through this, you can’t understand. My mother is elderly, and my wife left us five years ago. I had no one to care for my children. Through the illness, I thought not of myself but of them. Now I wait for the day I can be with my children again and hold them tighter,” he said.
Aydınlı recalled how their team rushed back from Muğla upon hearing of the donor match, racing against time to save a life.
“A British citizen had passed away, and the family donated her organs. Our Armed Forces sent a plane, our team performed the retrieval, and we completed all patient preparations in that time. It was an exhausting surgery, but it went well. The patient is in good condition now. When he first came to us, he told me, ‘Doctor, my children are young. I must live for them.’ He survived thanks to the transplant,” said Aydınlı.
He praised the government’s swift mobilization of resources, emphasizing that the operation underscored the value the state places on its citizens.
“Our Armed Forces, as always, provided amazing support, including assigning the aircraft,” he added.
Gastroenterology specialist Shahin Mehdiyev said Şimşek was in the “end-stage” of liver disease, suffering from ascites caused by severe fluid accumulation. After the transplant, his symptoms disappeared.