Human Transplantation - Documentaries

Horizon: Breath of Life
BBC2 (UK)--Thursday 13th January 2000, 21:30 hrs, 50 min
This documentary is about a living donor lung transplant for a woman suffering from cystic fibrosis. The brother and sister of Sheila Batchelor decided they would each donate a lung, although Sheila's chances of survival with the transplants would be low. There are detailed surgical scenes of the removal of Sheila's lungs and those of her relatives, and of the transplant. The post-operative progress of all three in followed. The brother and sister recover, though not without difficulties, but Sheila dies 3 weeks after surgery. Some months afterwards, her relatives talk about their decision to donate their lungs and the question remains of whether the procedure should be carried out, considering the little likelihood of success.

Horizon: Life Blood
BBC 2 (Scotland)—Thursday 11 October 2001, 21:00 hrs, 50 min
Matthew Farrow was born with a rare and fatal blood disease, Fanconi's anaemia. His family and doctors thought he was going to die. Instead, aged just five, he became the first person in the world to be given a radical new treatment that few believed would work. It saved his life. The treatment was remarkably simple. A small quantity of blood taken from a newborn baby's umbilical cord and placenta was infused into him. Thanks to this cord blood, Matthew Farrow is now a healthy teenager and the treatment he helped to pioneer is giving hope to hundreds of critically ill children around the world.

Your Life in Their Hands
BBC1 (UK) -2004
The series follows surgeons Henry Marsh, Nigel Heaton and Stephen Westaby and reveals the skill, compassion and steely nerve it takes to become leaders in their profession.  For some patients, surgery is their last chance. Their future depends on Henry, Nigel and Stephen. The series follows the emotional stories of these patients as they put their trust, and their lives, into the surgeons’ hands. Your Life In Their Hands also reveals some of the pioneering, innovative and often
incredibly risky procedures the three surgeons carry out in complex operations.
Programme 1 - Monday 8 March 2004, 9pm
Programme 2 - Monday 15 March 2004, 9pm
Programme 3 - Monday 22 March 2004, 9pm

Will I Still Love My Mum?
Channel 4 (UK)—Wednesday 3 August 2005, 21:00 hrs, 60 min
‘Will I Still Love My Mum?’ is one of the first questions a child asks when they are told they need a heart and lung transplant. Children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) already know they have an illness that cannot be cured and that will eventually kill them. When the drugs stop working the only thing left is to go on a waiting list for a transplant. But half of those who go on the list die while waiting. And two out of every five who do get a transplant will die within five years.  This moving film follows ten-year-olds Hannah and Kayley who have fought CF all their lives but whose only hope now is the transplant waiting list. Will the girls agree to go on the list? If they say no, will their parents have to agree to let them die? And if they are called for a transplant, will they go through with an operation that could transform their quality of life, but could also kill them?

Life on the List
BBC One (UK)—Monday 22 to Friday 26 August 2005, 19:00 hrs
Five-part documentary series telling the powerful and moving stories of those affected by donation - from the individuals and families waiting for organs to the medical teams that support them. Seven-year-old Justin is waiting for a heart, Trevor needs a heart-lung transplant, Brian needs a corneal graft. Viewers also meet Rona who donated her daughter's organs after she died at the age of 15. Also depicted is the story of an Edinburgh lady (Sarah Caldwell) who loses the use of her kidneys through having a pregnancy. Though her child is healthy, her husband (John Caldwell) eventually gives one of his own after a kidney from a deceased donor is rejected.

DoNation: Kidney Transplant
BBC One (UK)—Thursday 25 August 2005, 21:00 hrs
Professor Robert Winston introduces this hour-long special focusing on the real-life story of husband and wife Rajesh and Varsha as they undergo a living donor kidney transplant operation. The film follows their family going through the incredibly moving and worrying experience of living donation - with Varsha being the kidney donor and Rajesh the recipient. They talk about their reasons for choosing this kind of transplant and their hopes for how it will change their lives for the better.

Horizon: The Doctor Who Makes People Walk Again?
BBC (UK) September 2005
Are Dr Huang's methods too much too soon? In Beijing, a remarkable medical pilgrimage is taking place. The sick and the dying are travelling here for a treatment pioneered by Dr Huang Hongyun. He claims he can restore functions that Western doctors said were lost forever. He uses a technique that would be banned in the West, by taking cells from aborted foetuses and injecting them into the brains and spines of patients with spinal injuries and disease. Despite there being no clear clinical evidence that his methods work, hundreds of patients from all over the Western world are travelling to Dr Huang's clinic in search of a miracle.

Head Transplants: Stranger Than Fiction
Channel 5 (UK)—Monday 17 July 2006
This documentary traces the race between the USA and the Soviet Union to be the first to transplant a head. It explores the brain research carried out by scientists between 1950 and 1970, and highlights the complexities of working with such a delicate organ. It also looks at the ethical perspective of this procedure.

The Heart Transplant
BBC (UK)—26 min
Harefield Hospital in England is world-renowned for its organ transplant capabilities, and in The Heart Transplant, viewers can follow the experiences of four patients who await a heart transplant there. The wait for an organ can be very long, as the availability of hearts has fallen, and there is no guarantee of success after the transplant has been done. The patients include a young child, two women, and a man who has had a series of heart attacks. They all hold out hope that a new heart will transform their lives, and put an end to years of debilitating illness.

Tales from the Organ Trade
Every year thousands of organs are bought and sold on a black market that flourishes in dozens of countries, where the rule of law is a hostage to the dollar sign. Tales from the Organ Trade explores the legal, moral and ethical issues involved in this complex life and death business.
http://www.frontlineclub.com/tales-from-the-organ-trade/