Patient Walked Down the Aisle by Transplant Surgeon Who Saved Her Life

When Jenny Tice got engaged, she knew exactly who she wanted to walk her down the aisle at her wedding: Carlos Esquivel, MD, surgical director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and the surgeon who saved her life not just one time, but twice.

Back in 1989, when Jenny was just 8 months old, she was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare disorder that affects tubes in the liver called bile ducts. It’s the most common reason for childhood liver failure and can be fatal without a transplant. At that time, liver transplants were almost never offered to children younger than 2.

Dr. Esquivel was an early advocate for offering liver transplants to sick babies and children. His efforts have saved hundreds of people, including Jenny. At Stanford Children’s, he and his team have built a pediatric transplant program now recognized as one of the largest and most experienced in the world.

“He goes above and beyond the call of duty,” Jenny said in a 2022 article honoring Dr. Esquivel’s years of service. “Knowing that this is really that person’s only chance, and he’s giving them that second chance—I feel like he holds that very sacred.”

Then, 30 years later, Jenny crossed paths with Dr. Esquivel when she in the hospital. He saved her again with a bile duct surgery.

Most recently, the two reunited on January 31 at her wedding where Dr. Esquivel walked Jenny down the aisle—a moment that will be etched in their memories forever. “This day would not have been possible without the hope and the story of my liver transplant,” Jenny told PEOPLE.

Read more in this PEOPLE article: “Bride Walked Down the Aisle by Surgeon Who Saved Her Life Twice: ‘This Day Would Not Be Possible Without Him’”

Dr. Esquivel and Jenny share a hug

Jenny and her husband, Robert Robert Nathaniel Eberhart