Audio engineer Carlyle Preudhomme, Jr., 47, works with some of the biggest acts in hip-hop and R&B. But sound quality had to take a back seat to quality of life once he needed dialysis after decades spent battling type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that shuts down the pancreas’ ability to make insulin and leads to a cascade of disastrous health impacts, including kidney failure – and eventually – death.
Mr. Preudhomme was already on the waiting list for a kidney transplant; his organs were functioning below 5 percent. Regular and dangerous swings in blood sugar landed him in the hospital on multiple occasions. Once the Northwell Transplant Institute received approval from the New York State Department of Health to launch a pancreas transplant program in December 2025 – a process years in the making – Mr. Preudhomme was among the first to be registered. That fast-tracked his ability to get a new kidney too.
“We’ve been performing kidney transplant at Northwell for nearly 20 years, but pancreas is new for us and a fairly complicated operation,” said Niraj Desai, MD, director of Northwell’s Center for Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation. “For most people undergoing this type of transplant, it is a combined procedure. Patients who are ideally suited for this operation have type 1 diabetes and a complication of diabetes – renal failure.”…