Hope at Home: The Medical City champions accessible liver transplantation for Filipinos

Few fears cut deeper than watching a child fight for life.

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For three Filipino families, that fear turned into hope through a breakthrough once thought out of reach: a liver transplant, now possible here at home.

Since 2011, The Medical City's Center for Liver Health and Transplantation (Liver Center) has successfully performed operations on 18 pediatric and 11 adult patients, utilizing both living and deceased donors.

Most recently, three young children were given a second chance at life through the Joint Liver Transplant Program of The Medical City (TMC) and Rizal Medical Center (RMC), launched in January 2025.

King Leo

When one-year-old King Leo Villanueva Laurora was diagnosed with biliary cirrhosis, his parents were told that time was running out. His father brought him to The Medical City, searching for any solution. There, tests confirmed what they feared most: Leo needed a liver transplant.

Among his parents, it was his mother, Maricar, who was found to be the match. On April 12, 2025, she made history, becoming the first patient in the Philippines to undergo a fully robotic donor hepatectomy using the Da Vinci Xi system.

The advanced technology made her recovery faster, allowing her to care for her son sooner. "I just wanted him to get better and live a normal life," Maricar said softly. "That was the only thing that mattered."

Alonzo Eli