From Innocence to Endurance: A Patient's Perspective on Lifelong Transplant Care

Malik Wellington received his first heart transplant at age 17 years for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. In the setting of chronic immunosuppression, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, requiring orchiectomy, and renal cell carcinoma, requiring left open partial nephrectomy. Twenty-four years later, he received his second heart transplant for cardiac allograft vasculopathy as well as a simultaneous kidney transplantation at NewYork Presbyterian-Columbia Medical Center. While waiting for his second heart and kidney transplant in the hospital, he graduated from his Master of Business Administration program at Long Island University. Now almost 4 years after his second transplant, he currently works as an analyst for a gas & electric utility company and he hopes to go back to school for engineering. In his spare time, he enjoys salsa dancing and writing short stories.