It’s a heartwarming story 20 years in the making.

Steve Quinn was just 23-year-old when he was diagnosed with a rare disease that creates antibodies that attack the organs, mainly the kidneys. 

Quinn spent three years on dialysis before he had his first kidney transplant. In 2021, he had difficulty breathing. It was discovered he needed a new kidney, but also a new heart.

Then came the final blow. While Quinn was getting the final tests done to get approval for the transplant list, “they found out I’d need new lungs as well.”

By the beginning of this year, Quinn’s body began to shut down while in the hospital waiting for a match.

“That first couple of weeks, every single time a person walked into the hospital room, it was like ‘are you going to tell me there’s a match? No? You just have terrible food? Great,” says Quinn.

Quinn spent weeks in the hospital waiting alone as COVID-19 restrictions limited visitors and children were not allowed.

After six weeks, Quinn says he hit rock bottom.

“All I said was I just want to see my daughter,” says Quinn. For one day, he got his wish as his partner Sarah arranged a Sunday afternoon in the employee cafeteria at NYU. “It was absolutely wonderful and rejuvenating, says Quinn.”

It was two months waiting in the hospital before he got word there was a match. An 11-hour triple organ transplant surgery was performed. Hospital officials say it is the first successful heart, lungs and kidney transplant in the Northeast.

While doctors say Quinn has months of rehabilitation ahead of him, the now 40-year-old dad is just happy to be able to spend time with his daughter, Kira, and his partner.

When he arrived home from the hospital and he saw Kira, Quinn said, “all I could do is sit on the couch and get as close to her as possible. I was overcome.”

Quinn says he feels about 80% better. On this Father’s Day, he says the day will be spent with Sarah and Kira doing normal things like a walk, a nap and some rest.