Dr. Dinee Simpson tweeted on March 8 that she was having a rough morning and then ran into a woman when she stopped to purchase some coffee. The woman was one of the doctor’s former transplant patients who was extremely sick.  

“Having a bad morning, stopped for coffee. Woman next to me stared at my ID badge and started to cry. I did her liver transplant last year, she was so sick then. Today she had her hair did, makeup on, and looked FABULOUS. Unrecognizable. Gave me the BEST hug. I love this job,” Simpson wrote. 

Having a bad morning, stopped for coffee. Woman next to me stared at my ID badge and started to cry. I did her liver transplant last year, she was so sick then. Today she had her hair did, makeup on, and looked FABULOUS. Unrecognizable. Gave me the BEST hug.

I love this job💕

— Dinee Simpson MD, FACS (@DineeMD) March 8, 2022

Simpson is the first and only Black woman transplant surgeon that works at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports.

After Simpson wrote about the touching moment, she proceeded to perform a surgery, not expecting that her tweet would accumulate more than 273,000 likes on Twitter, according to Because of Them We Can. 

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy.’ … Then I just watched it grow, and it was insane,” Simpson said, according to Newsweek. 

Simpson utilizes her Black girl magic beyond surgery to further save lives through her African American Transplant Access Program at Northwestern, which she founded to help facilitate accessibility of transplants for Black patients, WGN 9 reports. 

Mecca Muhammed, 45, needed a new kidney after experiencing renal failure during her 2002 pregnancy. 

Muhammad went for dialysis three times a week for almost 15 years.

“I’m just working with what I got, the car that I have,” she said, according to WGN 9. “Just hoping this is the end of the road.” 

Muhammed then received a life-changing call while in the dialysis chair and was told she would be receiving a new kidney.

“When I got the call, I was excited, nervous and scared at the same time, but I was ready,” Muhammed said to WGN 9. 

Simpson, who understands the challenges many of her patients encounter, said there was nothing better than seeing Muhammed and thinking, “Oh my gosh, we’re finally here, you’re going to get a kidney.”

Black patients have limited access to transplants, according to data assembled by the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There are currently more than 100,000 people waiting for an organ on the national transplant list, according to Because of Them We Can.

“You’re turning someone’s grief into somebody’s hope,” Simpson said, according to Newsweek. “So, it’s really charged with a lot of emotion.”

“Being an organ donor is an incredibly heroic move,” she said, according to Because of Them We Can. “The surgical team can’t do anything unless we have the gift of somebody’s donated organ …This is a procedure that gets somebody back to living their life to its fullest.”