Rachel Minske

(Green Bay, Wis.) Press-Gazette

The call came while Tina Sauerhammer was on stage in 2001, competing in the Miss Wisconsin pageant.

It was the hospital, informing Sauerhammer's father that a new kidney was finally available for transplant. He had suffered from renal failure for years.

The call went to the answering machine, and when the family returned to their Green Bay home later that night it was too late. The organ was given to someone else. Her father never received another transplant opportunity and died in 2002.

Sauerhammer didn't win that pageant, but she also didn't give up.

Shortly after completing medical school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003 -- and at age 22. becoming the medical school's youngest graduate -- Sauerhammer returned to the Miss Wisconsin competition. This time, she gave a voice to the importance of organ and tissue donation.

She won the Miss Wisconsin pageant in 2003 and was second runner up that year in the Miss America contest. "I was able to share my father's story, which was awesome," she said.

Sauerhammer, 33 and an attending surgeon at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is returning to her roots in September as a pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Prevea Health in Green Bay.

She spent time this week in Oshkosh helping judge the 2014 Miss Wisconsin competition.

"I just remembered how badly I wanted to achieve Miss Wisconsin," Sauerhammer said. "It was one of the greatest accomplishments of my life but I also do appreciate being on the other side of the stage."

While at Prevea Health, Sauerhammer will help children with cleft palates, complex dog bites, extra digits on hands or toes and deformities from severe burns, among other cosmetic issues.

"There aren't any doctors with Tina's skill set in this area," said Dr. Ashok Rai, president and CEO of Prevea Health. Children who need plastic surgery in northeastern Wisconsin currently must drive to Madison or Milwaukee for care, he said.

"At the end of the day we're honored and privileged to have Tina work with us as a partner. It's a community need," Rai said.

Sauerhammer said one of her greatest medical achievements came in 2011 when she was one of 30 doctors to successfully complete the first full face transplant in the United States. The patient suffered severe burns to his face from an electrical accident. At the time, he had a 3-year-old daughter.

"My dad never had the opportunity to get the transplant he needed," Sauerhammer said. "I was able to give this little girl's father the transplant he needed so that she could see his face again."