A CT woman gave her dad ‘the gift of life.’ How it was a major milestone for a hospital, too

Hartford Courant – Saturday, June 13, 2026
By Helen I. Bennett

Meghan Baer is not the type of woman to back down from a challenge.

When the Connecticut woman learned her father needed a kidney transplant, she was determined to be the donor.

Baer, a speech language pathologist, had already correctly advised her dad, Jeff Baer, to get checked when he had suffered from a sore throat, difficulty swallowing and a hoarse voice. She was right: he had laryngeal cancer.

“She was all over it; she could tell it was something serious,” Jeff Baer said. “She saw the signs.”

It wasn’t until after Jeff Baer had undergone surgery and radiation that they came back to the procedures that would lead to the kidney transplant. By then he was exhausted, “wiped out,” from the radiation and dialysis, he said.

“I was in complete kidney failure,” Jeff Baer said. “I had mixed feelings about it; I did not want to put her in harm’s way.”

But the medical team at Hartford Hospital was “confident” about it, and Meghan was a great match, he said.

And despite his hesitation, “There is no way you can turn Meghan down,” the dad said, words catching in his throat recently as he spoke of his concern and what his daughter had done for him just weeks before.

Meghan Baer, of Milford, went through rigorous testing to determine that she was a match for her dad, and while she was “worried” at times that she wouldn’t be, she said “it just felt like it was meant to be; this was supposed to happen.”

“I feel incredibly grateful and fortunate to be able to do this,” she said. “I think that from a mental health perspective, it was a very powerful opportunity for me.”

Father and daughter agreed that Hartford Hospital was “an amazing place” to have the transplant done, praising doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and the hospital finance team, among others.

“They took such good care of us; the first thing I wanted to hear was how Meghan was doing and she was doing great — she was fine,” Jeff Baer said of the moments when he awoke from the surgery.

And the new kidney he had also was doing fine, as “that little guy went right to work,” Baer said.

Both father and daughter had high praise for Dr. Oscar Serrano, who performed the surgery to remove Meghan Baer’s kidney. Different surgeons work on each patient, in order to give their full attention to one person.

The surgery Serrano performed was called a “major milestone” for Hartford Hospital, as his team did its first robotic living donor nephrectomy, which was years in the planning by many people. The surgery on Jeff Baer was also a robotic kidney transplant, according to the hospital.

One of the benefits of this type of surgery is that it allows the surgeon to use much smaller incisions and reduce potential complications. Serrano said a great deal of practice preceded Meghan Baer’s surgery, and he had used the robot system for surgeries at least 100 times prior to it, which is “years of training.”

“It was a big momentous occasion; it weighed heavily — considering all the things,” Serrano said. “But, everything felt natural. It could not have gone better.”

Serrano said it is important to note that when it comes to someone like Meghan donating an organ, “there is no gain for her other than the satisfaction of donating to her father.”

A donor takes risks and “There is not benefit for them directly,” Serrano said. “People like Meghan are the true heroes of this story.”

“I think the emphasis is the gift of life,” Serrano said. “We know the meaning of an organ, she didn’t have to, she chose to do that for his betterment. …. The gift of life off dialysis.”
Serrano noted the important of such donations.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, there were 786,000 people living with kidney failure in 2021, and fewer than 25,000 received a transplant that year. By 2022, however, there 25,000 kidney transplants in a year, according to the foundation.

The National Institutes of Health notes that, from 2011 to 2017, “the overall number of patients who were added to the kidney transplant waitlist for a kidney transplant was relatively stable, at about 24,000-26,000” per year. Over the next two years, the number added per year increased, reaching 28,556 in 2019. “However, in 2020, the number decreased sharply to 25,136, before rebounding to 27,413 in 2021,” according to NIH.

Further, according to the American Kidney Fund, there were more than 7,200 Connecticut residents living with kidney failure in 2025.

Jeff Baer said that he couldn’t believe how quickly he felt better, getting more energy, and “it is pretty amazing.”

“I can’t say enough about people who helped us,” he said, noting an occupational therapist brought him to see his daughter in the hospital, “got the chair and wheeled it down” to her room.

Meghan Baer said her father’s example of generosity and selflessness is definitely “a huge impetus to this.”

Meghan Baer also said her husband and “brilliant” sister were champions in helping she and her dad. Father and daughter also noted they had many people offering prayers and pulling for them

Meghan Baer said she spoke to the family pastor from Greenfield Hill Congregational Church in Fairfield prior to the surgery and “He reminded us this was something I was offering, not something my dad was trying to take.”

There were setbacks prior to the surgery, she said, but she recalled that day, “Everyone was so good to us, keeping me laughing. It was just this huge wave of relief.” When she woke up, hospital staff came to her, as her dad wanted to know how she was doing, she said.

Meghan Baer said as she heals she is “getting used to energy levels, slowing down is not in my wheelhouse.”

“We are so grateful,” she said.

“It is a life altering surgery, any person they should go to Hartford Hospital, things are so much better,” Jeff Baer said.

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