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Yale-New Haven Hospital news release
Release date: Aug. 15, 2007
Media contact: (203) 688-2488

Twenty-two years later, Orange woman thrives after liver transplantation

NEW HAVEN –On February 9, 1985, surgeons at Yale-New Haven Hospital made history when they performed a liver transplant on the world’s youngest patient. Marissa Emple was just 100 days old when she received a new liver at YNHH, and the surgery garnered regional and national media interest. She was one of the 100,000 children born each year with tyrosinemia, a condition in which the liver is incapable of producing an enzyme necessary for the breakdown of proteins, resulting in a build up of toxic products and central nervous system depression.

Marissa’s mother, Jane Elliott, of Orange, recently called Yale-New Haven Hospital to let staff know that Marissa was now a healthy 22-year-old and was graduating from college.

After graduating from Nazareth College in May, Marissa began a six-month internship at the Golisano Children’s Hospital located within Strong Memorial Hospital, where she will put her music therapy degree to good use.

“I’m hoping that a hospital will give me the opportunity to change other kids’ lives, in much the same way that the doctors and nurses at Yale-New Haven Hospital changed my life,” said Marissa.

According to Marissa, her parents were very open with her about her transplant and the topic of organ donation. Marissa describes herself as “very, very lucky to have a normal life,” even though her parents were extremely vigilant about infection after the operation.

After Marissa’s transplant, her mother became very active in raising public awareness about the need for organ donation, and Marissa became involved in organ donation advocacy with her mother. In 2003, when she was a senior in high school, Marissa won a speaking contest for a speech she wrote that focused on organ donation awareness.

Throughout her four years at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY, Marissa kept her medical history to herself since she never wanted to be treated differently. Nazareth faculty only learned of her history during her senior flute recital, when Dr. Wayne Flye, who had performed Marissa’s surgery, traveled to Rochester at Marissa’s invitation. This was the first time Dr. Flye had seen his patient since the time of the surgery 22 years earlier. “I always knew Dr. Flye’s name and was very curious about him as I was growing up,” said Marissa. “It was a thrill to finally meet him.” Flye has since left YNHH and now lives in St. Louis.

Yale-New Haven Hospital was a pioneer in transplantation, performing Connecticut's first cornea transplant in 1952; kidney transplant in 1967; liver transplant in 1983; and heart transplant in 1984. In addition, YNHH also performed the state's first bone marrow transplant in 1988; heart-lung transplant in 1988; pancreas transplant in 1989; single lung in 1990; and a successful heart transplant from an unmatched donor in 1992.

YNHH recently recruited a nationally known transplant surgeon to head its transplantation program. Sukru Emre, M.D., arrived in July to become director of the Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center and section chief of transplant surgery and immunology in the department of surgery at Yale School of Medicine. He is a leader in the field of liver transplantation and known for his expertise in the area of pediatric transplantation. A native of Turkey, Dr. Emre most recently directed both the pediatric and adult liver transplant programs at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

Yale-New Haven Hospital is a 944-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine. Yale-New Haven was founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826 and today, the hospital complex includes Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital and Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, with a combined medical staff of about 2,400 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. See www.ynhh.org for additional information.

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Last revised: Aug. 29, 2007 (dh)

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