The kidneys of Dwayne Deakins, a 41-year-old Elkhorn farmer with hereditary polycystic kidney disease, had grown to five times their normal size.
He needed a transplant, and two men saved his life.

One was his 64-year-old father, Ken, the donor.

The other was a 59-year-old former Olympic skier from Germany, whose inquisitiveness, bedside manner, intelligence, energy and experience make him among the most important and sought-after transplant surgeons in the country.

Dr. Hans Sollinger was on the case, explaining, strategizing, comforting.

Patients and surgeons come from around the world to Madison to consult with Hans Sollinger on organ transplant surgery.

An eight-member team of surgeons directed by Sollinger – chairman of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine Organ Transplant Division and medical director of the UW Organ Procurement Organization – in 2004 transplanted the hospital’s record number of 618 organs, including kidneys, livers and pancreas, in 514 patients.