The University of Toledo Medical Center, northwest Ohio’s only organ transplantation center, has expanded its program to include pancreas transplants, officials announced Tuesday.
Members of the media met at the hospital with its first dual pancreas-kidney recipient, Taylor Iceman, 39, who lives in tiny Lucas, Ohio, which is about 110 miles southeast of downtown Toledo and about seven miles southeast of Mansfield, Ohio.
Mr. Iceman got the dual organ transplant five weeks ago, on Feb. 12.
“I’m already feeling the benefits from it, and I’m just excited about my future now,” said Mr. Iceman, who coaches football and basketball at Lucas High School, where he also serves as athletic director.
He said he grew up in that rural community near Mansfield and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a middle-school student about 25 years ago.
About five to seven years ago, Mr. Iceman experienced a sharp decline in his health from his years of battling diabetes. He began having problems with his eyesight, then his kidneys. He was often so exhausted he found himself needing to coach by sitting in a chair.
Eventually, he began a dialysis regimen, which made him more tired.
Then, he learned he was a candidate for northwest Ohio’s first pancreas-kidney transplant.
He got the call that organs had been procured from a suitable donor — a young male who had died from a traffic accident — at halftime of a Lucas High School basketball game and immediately came to UTMC for the surgery.
Mr. Iceman said he wasn’t aware at the time he was about to become a first recipient of such a double-organ transplant.
“I didn’t know they hadn’t done that here before,” he said. “I didn't think about being the first.”
Mr. Iceman said he competed in sports in high school and college. He said he hopes he has been an inspiration to his kids, whom he said he has preached about the value of hard work and pushing through adversity.
“With this disease, you don’t really know how it’s going to hit you, but you know it’s probably going to be something,” he said.
The physician who procured the organs and was in charge of the transplant was Dr. Kunal Yadav, a UTMC transplant surgeon and director of that medical center’s new pancreas transplant program.
Dr. Yadav said the procedure is considered a success now that Mr. Iceman has healed for more than a month with no setbacks.
Mr. Iceman’s blood sugars have been normal, his kidney function and other indicators have been great, and he is considered to be diabetes-free now with a healthy pancreas providing the natural insulin his body needs.
“It does cure diabetes,” said Dr. Yadav, who performed pancreas-kidney transplants elsewhere before coming to UTMC. “All in all, I think it's been a fantastic outcome.”
Assisting him with the procedure was Dr. John Rabets, he said.
Charles “Chuck” Callahan, UTMC executive vice president for health affairs, said in a prepared statement that the medical center is “proud to expand our transplantation program and provide another life-saving treatment opportunity to our patients.”
UTMC received approval to perform pancreas transplants in December.
It started performing kidney transplants in 1972.
Pancreas transplants are most commonly done in patients with Type 1 diabetes. While sometimes done alone, they are far more often performed alongside a kidney transplant in patients with kidney failure brought on by insulin-dependent diabetes.
The pancreas is a tadpole-shaped organ located in the upper left part of the abdomen. It performs important roles in digestion and in regulating blood sugars.
In Type 1 diabetes, an individual’s pancreas produces little or no insulin, which leads to myriad health problems.
Dr. Yadav said UTMC is now experiencing what he calls an era of “transplant tourism” brought on by its much shorter wait times for kidney transplants than many other parts of the country.
The word is getting out, as far as the East and West coasts, to come to Toledo for transplants in order to avoid longer waits, he said.
According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, the wait time at UTMC is two months. The national average is nearly two and a half years.
The same registry also reports UTMC patients have a 90-day kidney survival rate above the national average.
UTMC’s ability to do simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplants now could be a game-changer for the region and makes a lot of sense for Type 1 diabetics young enough and strong enough for the procedure, Dr. Yadav said.
It replaces both the organ responsible for the diabetes, the pancreas, as well as one commonly damaged by the disease, the kidneys, Dr. Yadav said.
“Now with the pancreas transplant added, we can benefit a lot more patients,” he said. “We can help them get rid of diabetes, which is the baseline problem which caused the kidney disease in the first place.”
Although the medical center began doing kidney transplants more than 50 years ago, UTMC officials said that program has grown “significantly” over the last five years.
“For a lot of patients, this is the best option,” Dr. Yadav said of the double-organ transplant. “If we’re able to also give them a new pancreas, we’re curing their diabetes along with restoring kidney function.”
Kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organ around the world, with nearly 27,000 procedures performed in the United States last year. Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplants, by comparison, are relatively rare. Over the last five years, U.S. transplant centers have averaged 850 cases annually.
“This is an area where we feel we can make a real difference, in our backyard and across our region,” said Dan Barbee, UTMC chief executive officer. “There is a need for improved access to pancreas transplant. We’re well-positioned to provide this service and to do so at a very high level.”
Mr. Iceman said he received almost immediate relief from his symptoms and encouraged others in a similar situation to consider a pancreas-kidney transplant.
“Looking back on it now, I kind of realize how crappy I felt,” he said. “It’s been a long process, but we’re here and things are going great.”
First Published March 18, 2025, 11:26 a.m.
