In a remarkable medical development unfolding in the Chicago area, Harry Stackhouse, a 74-year-old Zion native and a grandfather to 17, recently underwent a kidney transplant at Northwestern Medicine while fully awake, CBS News Chicago reports. After years of battling health issues that started with a tragic COVID-19 diagnosis in 2019, Stackhouse found one of his kidneys was failing, and the other was barely operational, leading to a prolonged battle with dialysis treatments.

His daughter, Trewaunda Stackhouse, stepped forward as his donor, offering a chance for her father to reclaim some normalcy, she wanted him to "go back to living the way he was before his renal failure and go back to work," Trewaunda told ABC 7 Chicago. The decision to perform the transplant without general anesthesia was based on Stackhouse's heightened risk of complications during surgery, his age, and his existing health conditions.

Northwestern Medicine's approach using spinal anesthetic, mirrors the method employed for women during C-sections providing a safe pathway for high-risk patients. Dr. Satish Nadig, who led the transplant for Stackhouse, pointed out the advantages: "Patients who have cardiopulmonary disease may be at higher risk for general anesthesia," Dr. Nadig said, describing the potential benefits of an awake kidney transplant, as detailed by ABC 7 Chicago.

As per ABC 7 Chicago, post-surgery Stackhouse has been making significant strides in recovery, taking one-mile walks daily.