Woman from Gravesend, Brooklyn, Survives 5-Organ Transplant

A young woman from Gravesend, Brooklyn is proof miracles do happen. Kristin Molini survived a rare and uniquely complicated transplant operation that replaced five of her internal organs. “It’s like a new beginning,” the 22-year-old said as she celebrates all the small things most of us take for granted.

Making dinner with her family used to be an ordeal. For seven long years she endured excruciating stomach pain, could not eat and did not know what was wrong with her.

“It was difficult to keep myself going through this something I had to push my self through,” Molini said.

While she was at St. Saviour High School in Park Slope she was diagnosed with, among other things, gastro paresis, or the paralysis of the stomach. She needed a new stomach, pancreas, liver, and small and large intestines.

Molini was put on a waiting list for the five organs in April and got the call on May 4. The marathon surgery took place that night with organs transplanted from a young child killed in a car crash out of state. It was followed by a month in the intensive care unit. The new organs started to function gradually over time.

Molini’s skin went from severely yellowed to clear and normal and she went home June 16.

“My skin was white there was a glow I’m so glad this happened.” Molini said.

Molini eats and digests food like the rest of us, but still gets some nourishment from an I-V.

Kristin’s father Gregory Molini said, “There is a feeling at the end of the tunnel. It’s like the last seven years our lives were on hold and it’s almost over we can continue on where we left off.”

Molini now has a renewed appetite for everything in life.

“There’s nothing more I could have asked for. I get to participate in things and be a part of things. I get to live life,” she said.

{WCBS-TV/Matzav.com Newscenter}