The Richmond-based nonprofit usually flies surgeons to overseas patients, but Sophia Lewis needed advanced care that couldn’t be provided in the West Indies, says Becky Crowther, program director for the organization.

Dr. Marc Posner of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia Hospitals performed the kidney transplant operation Dec. 10. “Both patients are doing fine,” he says.

The procedure, although complex, is not rare, Posner says. “Living donor kidney transplant is very commonly done these days, and has been around since the 1960s.”

The patient was discharged this week and is spending time with her brother in the Hospitality House, which adjoins MCV.

— Ron Capshaw