Holiday shock to hope: How Abu Dhabi surgeons saved Kuwaiti mum

In June 2024, Kuwaiti national and mother of three, Nashami, was enjoying a family holiday when she began noticing unusual symptoms such as extreme fatigue, swollen feet, and alarmingly, the yellowing of her eyes. Initially attributing these symptoms to exhaustion from traveling, Nashami soon realised that this was something more serious when her symptoms continued to persist.

Upon consulting doctors in Kuwait, an ultrasound revealed her diagnosis: severe hepatic cirrhosis and kidney failure caused by primary biliary cirrhosis, an autoimmune disease that damages the bile ducts and liver and can impair kidney function. In need of an urgent combined liver and kidney transplant, her doctors in Kuwait and the UK – where she had travelled to for treatment – recommended she go to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s multi-organ transplant centre in the UAE. The hospital’s multidisciplinary transplant team successfully performed a complex combined liver and kidney transplant on Nashami.

“From the moment I arrived at the hospital, I was welcomed by the warmth and professionalism of the caregivers, as well as the world-class facility,” said Nashami. “We were met by a dedicated coordinator who guided us to the International Patient Services department, where everything about my journey was explained clearly. From registration to pre-surgical assessments, I felt completely supported every step of the way,” said Nashami – mother of Ahmed, Hind and Hala.

Dr Luis Campos, Staff Physician, Abdominal Transplant, Digestive Disease Institute, who led her treatment at CCAD, noted that Nashami’s case was particularly complex.
“Not only did she have advanced liver damage from an autoimmune disease, but her kidney function was also severely compromised. These are precisely the kinds of complex cases our multidisciplinary transplant programme is built to handle. Our ability to provide such comprehensive care stems from having integrated teams and advanced surgical protocols that ensure streamlined, coordinated treatment.”

CCAD’s partnerships with national transplant committees enabled the hospital to lead complex multi-organ transplants with efficiency and precision.

Nashami’s case exemplifies the success of the UAE-Kuwait organ sharing agreement, a cross-border collaboration established in 2021 between both countries’ Ministries of Health and national transplant centres. This partnership enabled her to be placed on a shared waiting list, ensuring access to suitable donor organs from either nation in a timely manner. Since its inception, the programme has saved the lives of more than 180 patients in the UAE, with seamless coordination between embassies, airports, and hospitals. Soon, Nashami received the life-changing call: a donor match had been found.

On the day of the surgery, transplant experts first conducted the liver transplant, followed by the kidney transplant.
Dr Baraa Abduljawad, Staff Physician, Critical Care, Integrated Hospital Care Institute, noted: “Timing is everything in transplantation. At Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, we’ve designed our operating environment and facilities to drastically reduce the time between donor organ retrieval and transplantation. This short window helps preserve organ function and significantly improves patient outcomes.”

The transplant surgeries, performed consecutively with precision and minimal blood loss, were successful. The multidisciplinary team, along with its dedicated International Patient Services team, ensured Nashami’s remarkable recovery.

Today, Nashami leads a healthy, fulfilling life back in Kuwait, continuing her follow-ups with CCAD.
Expressing her gratitude, Nashami said: “I now proudly call Abu Dhabi my second home.”

Life-changing journeys like Nashami’s are only possible thanks to the generosity of organ donors, whose selfless gifts offer patients a second chance at life. Since launching the UAE’s first multi-organ transplant programme in 2017, the hospital has performed more than 900 transplants across a range of organs.