From Iceland to Sahlgrenska University Hospital – the collaboration that saved Eldur’s life

Reykjavík, December 2025

Eldur Elí Bjarkason has found a long stick, which he enthusiastically uses to strike the snowbanks on the icy car park outside the Botanical Garden in Iceland’s capital.

“He’s just like any other child. And almost always happy,” say his father, Bjarki Páll Eysteinsson, and mother, Kristín Gunnarsdóttir, when they meet hospital photographer Paul Björkman.

Just over four years ago, it was uncertain whether their son would survive.

Gothenburg, September 2021

“They told us that the world’s leading transplant specialists were here, and that we could not have come to a better place,” says Kristín Gunnarsdóttir.

She and Bjarki Páll Eysteinsson are sitting in a room at The Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, recalling the events that brought them there from Landspítali, Iceland’s largest hospital, a few months earlier.

At the time, their son was three months old. Shortly after his birth, doctors discovered that a viral infection had damaged his liver. It soon became clear that a transplant was his only chance of survival.

The family travelled to Gothenburg and The Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

For a small child, only a small portion of an adult liver is needed. However, finding a suitable donor took time. After more than a month in Sweden, Eldur Elí’s condition deteriorated rapidly and he was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit, where he was placed in an induced coma.

“It was as though he was fading away,” Kristín Gunnarsdóttir recalls.

Eventually, a donor was found. Rúna Sif Rafnsdóttir, a close family friend, had been tested in Iceland and proved to be a match. She travelled to Sahlgrenska University Hospital, where surgeons removed a portion of her liver.

Shortly afterwards, during a 13-hour operation, Eldur Elí received his new liver.

“When he woke up after the operation and opened his eyes … and the whites of his eyes were white for the first time instead of yellow … I will never forget that moment,” says Bjarki Páll Eysteinsson.

International Collaboration with Iceland

Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Scandinavia’s only comprehensive transplantation centre, has worked in partnership with Iceland’s Health Insurance Administration since 2009 on transplantation services and organ donation.

The collaboration benefits both countries. It increases access to donor organs for patients in Sweden while ensuring that patients in Iceland have access to highly specialised transplant care.

A large majority of respondents – almost nine in ten – believe that international collaboration between hospitals has a positive impact on the quality of care. Three in four respondents say they are very or fairly positive about the impact that international cooperation has on healthcare quality at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

These findings come from Sahlgrenska University Hospital’s latest public confidence survey, conducted by the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg.

“To maintain and further develop highly specialised care while meeting future healthcare needs, we need to collaborate across national borders. By treating international patients, we achieve the patient volumes required to continue advancing healthcare and developing new treatments,” says Hanna Axelsson, Head of Sahlgrenska International Care.

She also emphasises the importance of educational partnerships, both with Iceland and with several other countries. These collaborations contribute to workforce development and strengthen the hospital’s international engagement.

“Through these exchanges, our staff gain experience of different ways of working and different healthcare environments, which in turn can help us improve care here at home,” says Hanna Axelsson.

June 2026

Eldur Elí Bjarkason has now turned five.

He enjoys nursery school and loves playing football, fishing, skiing, cycling and spending time playing with his two older siblings.

Every few years, the family returns to The Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital for follow-up appointments – something that will continue at least into his twenties.

“All his test results are exactly what you would expect for a child his age. We are not worried. He is happy and healthy,” says Bjarki Páll Eysteinsson.

Eldur Elí himself is aware of what he has been through.

“We talk about it a lot. We look at photographs and videos from his time in hospital. He understands how fortunate he was to be saved by Rúna,” says Kristín Gunnarsdóttir.

“Eldur’s operation took place on 26 August. Every year on that date, our family and Rúna’s family get together and celebrate it as a birthday. It is such a special day for all of us,” says Bjarki Páll Eysteinsson.