1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

New life: The long road to a donor organ

12:36

This browser does not support the video element.

Florian Nusch
September 16, 2023

Silke Schulze is seriously ill. If she does not get a new heart and lung soon, she will die.

For months, the 40-year-old has been waiting in a Berlin hospital for a life-saving organ donation. Adam Penkalla is a heart surgeon. If a suitable donor organ is found somewhere, he takes off to remove it and bring it safely back to Berlin. It's always a race against time. We accompany Silke Schulze on her long journey to a new life, and witness when she receives the life-saving organs in a 14-hour operation. We also follow Adam Penkalla as he travels abroad to remove a heart and bring it back to Berlin on a charter plane.

Skip next section About the show

About the show

Reporter — On Location

DW’s on-the-ground reporters are always close to the action, be it covering international events or zooming in on some of the quirks of daily life. Camera always in hand, they report on the changes they see taking place in Germany, Europe and around the world.

Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW