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Woman survives 6 organ transplant

2 years ago, Sara Ultz was working full time in healthcare management while getting a graduate degree at UAB. One Tuesday afternoon in August she got a bad stomach-ache.  Then, it went from bad to worse.

"Once you are in a certain amount of pain you realize that something is just not right and I knew I needed help," said Sara.

So the next day, when the pain was unbearable, Sara went to the emergency room.

"It snow balled. It was one thing after another."

It turned out that Sara's tummy ache was a twisted bowel.

It's not common, but her bypass surgery 7 years ago could have predisposed her to it. It's life threatening if not caught and resolved in time, but time is something Sara was out of.

2 days after hitting the emergency room, Sara was in shock.

"A stomach ache... to shock.... to emergency surgery...3 for 3 days dissolve. They ended up removing everything but 18 inches of my small intestine and the rest of it had lost blood flow and died. They induced me into a coma for about 8 days and I woke up, basically to a nightmare," says Sara.

Sara's dad, Ron Ultz, says doctors thought she could live with just 18 inches of her 18 foot long small intestine, but 6 months later, in a follow up surgery, doctors discovered those 18 inches of small intestine were gone...simply dissolved.

"That was the end of the road for UAB. They didn't have anywhere for her to go," says Ron.

With no hope, Ron turned to the Internet searching for someone to save his little girl. He sent emails around the world asking for help. One reply came from a Dr. Tzakis in Miami.

"Him telling us he can help us was like daylight and dark, things are going to be okay. It was wonderful. I get emotional, " says Ron.

But Ron knew not to get his hopes too high. To save Sara's life, Dr. Tzakis would have to perform a rare and dangerous transplant. Since the small intestine doesn't graft well by itself Sara faced a multi-organ gastro-intestinal tract transplant. Sara owes her life to the family of a 9 year old boy.

"I had 6 organs, small intestine, large intestine, stomach, pancreas, spleen and liver. I went home many a day from the hospital thinking 'Sara's going to die, Sara's not going to make it  She's not going to make it.' It was bad, it still gets you.  I have never felt so bad in my entire life. I never thought I would ever be the same. I was just so sick," says Sara.

So sick that her doctors debated another transplant . That was, until they found the right drug to keep her new organs functioning. On that new drug, Sara got so well, so fast, that recently those south Florida doctors sent her back home to north Alabama to recuperate.

"It is surreal. I didn't think it would ever happen. I'd been sick for so long that I had just about given up. I thought I was never going to be able to leave the hospital," says Sara.

Actually, this gutsy gal may have left Miami, but she did not leave all the medicine.

"This is the Ostomy equipment," said Ron.

There are needles for blood and bags for nutrition. And some 40 pills a day to keep this 28 year old alive.

"It's a small price to pay for a brand new life, though. It's a blessing. Maybe I have a higher purpose I haven't figured out yet. I hope that's the case," she says.

The gift of life made possible to one child, through the grief of losing another. 

Gut wrenching in every way.