'It is the gift of life'
Sat, December 29, 2007
Former eduction director Joe Rapai received a liver transplant in November.
By JOHN MINER, SUN MEDIA
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2007/12/29/4744163-sun.html
A former director of education for the London District Catholic school board says a recent liver transplant has given him a whole new life.
"God has blessed me because everything is wonderful. It is a second life," said Joe Rapai, who received his new liver in November.
Rapai, who has been home from University Hospital for two weeks, praised the professionalism of the hospital's multi-organ transplant unit.
"It is the gift of life. I am walking and healing very well."
Rapai said he was aware his liver function was diminishing for the past nine years. About four years ago, he was put on the waiting list for an organ transplant.
The wait was more difficult than going through the actual surgery, he said.
"Your emotions go up and down."
Rapai's contract with the school board expired earlier this year.
He filed a $1 million suit against the board in May, claiming he faced discrimination and harassment related to his disease.
The board has disputed the claim, saying it was unaware he was seriously ill and required a transplant.
Rapai said he received a call from the hospital last summer that a liver was available, but after being admitted to the hospital he was advised the organ wasn't suitable.
"It was really wild, but that is just a part of the waiting period," he said.
Though waiting is difficult, Rapai said people shouldn't be pressured into the decision to donate organs.
Instead, the shortage of organs for donation should be tackled by raising awareness of the life-changing benefits for recipients, he said.
"That comes through education, it doesn't come through legislation."
Now that he has had his transplant, Rapai said he plans to focus on healing and spending time with his family.
He also will be available to encourage people to consider signing organ donor cards so that others will have the same opportunity that he has been given.
"If I can be of some value, I will be the first to be there."
Promoting Organ Donations the Gift of Life
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
THOUSANDS SIGN UP TO GIVE GIFT OF LIFE AS DONORS
THOUSANDS SIGN UP TO GIVE GIFT OF LIFE AS DONORS
09:00 - 28 December 2007
There are 52 people in Gloucestershire waiting for a life-saving transplant.Since The Citizen launched its campaign in July, urging people to sign up as organ donors, 5,693 Gloucestershire residents have added their name to the NHS Organ Donor Register.
More than 30 people in the county have received donated organs since April this year. But more donors are still desperately needed.
Hywel Lloyd, a press officer for UK Transplant, said he was delighted so many people in Gloucester had signed up.
He said: "The Citizen campaign has helped raise awareness of the desperate shortage of donors that affects those people waiting for a transplant in Gloucester and the rest of the UK.
"Campaigns like this help encourage more people who want to help to take that extra step and join the NHS Organ Donor Register. Organ donation saves thousands of lives every year but this is only because of the generosity of donors."
In the county there are 52 people waiting for kidney, lung and liver transplants.
One person who knows all too well the importance of being a donor is Emma Beard. Her husband Kevin recently received a liver transplant.
Kevin, 41, who is dad to 16-month-old Jack, had chronic liver failure, caused by alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency.
He became ill in February and in May after getting a bacterial infection cellulitis.
The Hucclecote dad was placed on the liver transplant list on August 16 and he got the call he was waiting for on October 3.
Emma, 29, said: "We were very lucky that Kevin was only on the list for six weeks before having his liver transplant but many people wait a lot longer and some never get the chance, because they die waiting. We are so grateful that Kev has been given a second chance at life and will hopefully now get the chance so see our little boy Jack grow up.
"It is a very long, slow road back to good health but it is amazing to think that in the not too distant future, Kev should be able to chase around after Jack again and teach him how to play rugby and football.
"We owe that to the donor and his family and we can never thank them enough."
Tragically, in the past four years, 10 people in Gloucestershire have died while waiting for transplants.
on the organ transplant list.
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231773&contentPK=19376042&folderPk=108571&pNodeId=231887#continueNews
09:00 - 28 December 2007
There are 52 people in Gloucestershire waiting for a life-saving transplant.Since The Citizen launched its campaign in July, urging people to sign up as organ donors, 5,693 Gloucestershire residents have added their name to the NHS Organ Donor Register.
More than 30 people in the county have received donated organs since April this year. But more donors are still desperately needed.
Hywel Lloyd, a press officer for UK Transplant, said he was delighted so many people in Gloucester had signed up.
He said: "The Citizen campaign has helped raise awareness of the desperate shortage of donors that affects those people waiting for a transplant in Gloucester and the rest of the UK.
"Campaigns like this help encourage more people who want to help to take that extra step and join the NHS Organ Donor Register. Organ donation saves thousands of lives every year but this is only because of the generosity of donors."
In the county there are 52 people waiting for kidney, lung and liver transplants.
One person who knows all too well the importance of being a donor is Emma Beard. Her husband Kevin recently received a liver transplant.
Kevin, 41, who is dad to 16-month-old Jack, had chronic liver failure, caused by alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency.
He became ill in February and in May after getting a bacterial infection cellulitis.
The Hucclecote dad was placed on the liver transplant list on August 16 and he got the call he was waiting for on October 3.
Emma, 29, said: "We were very lucky that Kevin was only on the list for six weeks before having his liver transplant but many people wait a lot longer and some never get the chance, because they die waiting. We are so grateful that Kev has been given a second chance at life and will hopefully now get the chance so see our little boy Jack grow up.
"It is a very long, slow road back to good health but it is amazing to think that in the not too distant future, Kev should be able to chase around after Jack again and teach him how to play rugby and football.
"We owe that to the donor and his family and we can never thank them enough."
Tragically, in the past four years, 10 people in Gloucestershire have died while waiting for transplants.
on the organ transplant list.
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231773&contentPK=19376042&folderPk=108571&pNodeId=231887#continueNews
HealthQuest House foundation helps assist organ recipients
A Paradise man who has undergone kidney and liver transplants as well as multiple surgeries has founded an organization that - someday - will provide assistance to organ recipients and their support persons during the surgery and recovery period.
Steven W. Cook said he realized there was a desperate need for supplemental organ transplant assistance during his kidney transplant over 30 years ago.
Most organ transplant centers require that someone accompany the recipient for the duration of the transplant surgery and recovery period, Cooke said.
Paying for overnight accommodations and services, as well as transportation, parking and food can be a serious hardship for many organ recipients and their families, he said.
When he received a liver transplant at a major medical facility in a large city 10 years ago, Cooke said he experienced the frustration, confusion and fears related to the process, and realized that assistance for organ recipients and their support persons was essential. The HealthQuest House Foundation was officially founded in May of this year when the IRS gave it non-profit status. Cooke said he wanted to create something similar to the Ronald McDonald foundation, except for organ transplant recipients.
The foundation currently consists of three board members who meet each month to support one another, and regularly go to high school and Rotary meetings in the area to present information about organ transplants. John Jans, who serves
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as the foundation's treasurer, said he hopes it will grow to be a genuine source of assistance, both financially and emotionally, for organ transplant recipients and their families.
The foundation's support would first be extended to local organ transplant patients, and then, if there were enough donations, it would spread further, perhaps from the Bay Area to the rest of Northern California, Jans said. Jans said he became involved with the foundation to support Cooke, his friend of 10 years. He said he met Cooke shortly after the death of his wife, who received a liver transplant in 1988.
Cooke said his hope for the foundation is to build a facility within the next year in San Francisco that would provide accommodations and proper nutrition for organ transplant recipients and their support persons. In a few years, Cooke said he wants another facility to be built near the University of Washington.
Cooke said he fell ill to kidney failure at 18. Though he received degrees in business in medical science, he has never had the chance to use them, he said.
He's been through several surgeries, including bone graphs, quadruple open heart bypass surgery, hip replacements, and he lost his right eye to cancer, he said. He has put many of his experiences into a semi-autobiographic book, "Conversations with a Masterpiece: Miracles and Medical Marvels," which is scheduled to come out at the end of March. Cooke said it is a question and answer book, and a compilation of questions he has collected for 31 years. All the proceeds from the book will go towards to foundation, Cooke said. The foundation is a federally tax-exempt, non-profit organization. It depends on grants, donations and fundraisers for its finances.
For more information, contact Steven Cooke
Steven W. Cook said he realized there was a desperate need for supplemental organ transplant assistance during his kidney transplant over 30 years ago.
Most organ transplant centers require that someone accompany the recipient for the duration of the transplant surgery and recovery period, Cooke said.
Paying for overnight accommodations and services, as well as transportation, parking and food can be a serious hardship for many organ recipients and their families, he said.
When he received a liver transplant at a major medical facility in a large city 10 years ago, Cooke said he experienced the frustration, confusion and fears related to the process, and realized that assistance for organ recipients and their support persons was essential. The HealthQuest House Foundation was officially founded in May of this year when the IRS gave it non-profit status. Cooke said he wanted to create something similar to the Ronald McDonald foundation, except for organ transplant recipients.
The foundation currently consists of three board members who meet each month to support one another, and regularly go to high school and Rotary meetings in the area to present information about organ transplants. John Jans, who serves
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
as the foundation's treasurer, said he hopes it will grow to be a genuine source of assistance, both financially and emotionally, for organ transplant recipients and their families.
The foundation's support would first be extended to local organ transplant patients, and then, if there were enough donations, it would spread further, perhaps from the Bay Area to the rest of Northern California, Jans said. Jans said he became involved with the foundation to support Cooke, his friend of 10 years. He said he met Cooke shortly after the death of his wife, who received a liver transplant in 1988.
Cooke said his hope for the foundation is to build a facility within the next year in San Francisco that would provide accommodations and proper nutrition for organ transplant recipients and their support persons. In a few years, Cooke said he wants another facility to be built near the University of Washington.
Cooke said he fell ill to kidney failure at 18. Though he received degrees in business in medical science, he has never had the chance to use them, he said.
He's been through several surgeries, including bone graphs, quadruple open heart bypass surgery, hip replacements, and he lost his right eye to cancer, he said. He has put many of his experiences into a semi-autobiographic book, "Conversations with a Masterpiece: Miracles and Medical Marvels," which is scheduled to come out at the end of March. Cooke said it is a question and answer book, and a compilation of questions he has collected for 31 years. All the proceeds from the book will go towards to foundation, Cooke said. The foundation is a federally tax-exempt, non-profit organization. It depends on grants, donations and fundraisers for its finances.
For more information, contact Steven Cooke
FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT ORGAN DONATION
More than 4,200 people in New Jersey and close to 100,000 nationwide are on the waiting list for transplants. Of those, 70,000 are waiting for kidneys.
Separate and specific equitable allocation of each organ has been determined by experts and approved by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Social or financial data are not part of the computer database and are not factors in the determination of who receives an organ.
In the absence of a donor designation or if an individual is under age 18, the family is responsible for making all decisions regarding donation.
In 2006, 533 organ transplants were performed in New Jersey at the state's six transplant centers. These include 385 kidneys, 78 livers, 46 hearts, four pancreases and 20 kidney-pancreas transplantations.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital offers:
Kidney transplants for both adults and children.
A paired kidney-exchange program, which is a national program that matches a patient in need of a transplant who has a willing but incompatible donor with another patient/donor pair in the same situation.
In addition to Robert Wood Johnson, transplant centers in New Jersey are:
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
Hackensack University Medical Center
University Hospital in Newark
Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden.
Additional information is available by calling the NJ Sharing Network at (800) 742-7365 or visiting www.sharenj.org.
The transplant centers at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital can be reached by calling (732) 235-8695 for information on kidney and pancreas transplants and (732) 235-8264 for heart-transplant information.
Sources: New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Separate and specific equitable allocation of each organ has been determined by experts and approved by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Social or financial data are not part of the computer database and are not factors in the determination of who receives an organ.
In the absence of a donor designation or if an individual is under age 18, the family is responsible for making all decisions regarding donation.
In 2006, 533 organ transplants were performed in New Jersey at the state's six transplant centers. These include 385 kidneys, 78 livers, 46 hearts, four pancreases and 20 kidney-pancreas transplantations.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital offers:
Kidney transplants for both adults and children.
A paired kidney-exchange program, which is a national program that matches a patient in need of a transplant who has a willing but incompatible donor with another patient/donor pair in the same situation.
In addition to Robert Wood Johnson, transplant centers in New Jersey are:
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
Hackensack University Medical Center
University Hospital in Newark
Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden.
Additional information is available by calling the NJ Sharing Network at (800) 742-7365 or visiting www.sharenj.org.
The transplant centers at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital can be reached by calling (732) 235-8695 for information on kidney and pancreas transplants and (732) 235-8264 for heart-transplant information.
Sources: New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Oceanside organ donor, family, celebrated for gifts
By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer
OCEANSIDE -- When Karen and Gene Wos see their son Brian's portrait making its way down Colorado Boulevard as part of the 119th Rose Parade, it will be a tribute not just to his life, but also to the good work he did after a motorcycle accident claimed his life.
"We miss our son like there's no tomorrow, but, to be able to see what he has done, it's just a real gift," Karen Wos said.
At 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 4, 2006, Brian Wos' new Kawasaki motorcycle veered off Highway 76 west of South Mission Road. The 19-year-old rider suffered a severe, and eventually fatal, head injury, but the accident left most of his vital organs intact. Karen Wos said she talked with her son about organ donorship before the accident, and he had said he wanted to give as much as possible.
"His response was, 'Well, if I'm done with it, why not pass it on?' " she said. "When he was pronounced (dead), we did not have to make that decision. We felt like we were carrying out his wishes."
Wos is one of 40 organ donors to be commemorated with 2-foot "floragraph" portraits on the 2008 Donate Life America float that will participate in the Rose Parade on Jan. 1. The float is designed to inspire more organ donorship.
Karen Wos said her son's organ donations helped seven recipients, including 54-year-old Danny Kohler.
Kohler, who lives in Cherry Valley near San Bernardino, said the kidney and pancreas donations he received from Brian have allowed him to escape nightly 10-hour dialysis sessions and regular insulin injections necessary to fight his inherited Type 1 diabetes.
"We have Brian's picture up on our piano," Kohler said. "He changed my whole life."
Kohler said that kidney and pancreas transplants usually take at least 24 hours to begin functioning normally. But he said tests showed that Brian's donations began working immediately.
Karen Wos said her son was always the kind of guy who did not want to wait for tomorrow.
"That's Brian. Why wait 24 hours? Why not get going right away?" she said.
Wos traveled to Pasadena on Dec. 1 to help create her son's floragraph. Rose Parade rules specify that all materials used in float decoration be natural, so paint on canvas was out. Instead, a portrait is created using crushed seeds, coffee and even Cream of Wheat glued to flat cardboard.
A line drawing of Brian was sketched on the backing and the natural materials were glued on top to create a blended and textured design.
"The way they had it set up for the families, it was easy, it was almost like paint by numbers," she said.
The Wos family will travel to Pasadena on New Year's Day to see Brian's portrait in the parade. Danny Kohler and his wife, Sylvia, will meet Karen and Gene Wos there.
Kohler said he would not miss a chance to see Brian's portrait.
"We consider Gene and Kathy part of the family," he said. "My job now is just to live a good life and keep Brian's memory going as long as I can."
After the parade is over, the Wos family will get to keep Brian's portrait, which has been sprayed with a plastic coating to keep it together for years to come.
Meeting their son's organ recipients might seem a painful ordeal. But they said the experience has actually proven cathartic.
"They (the donors) thank us, but we tell them, no thank you, you're keeping a little piece of our son alive," Karen Wos said. "It just amazes me what my son has done."
Donate Life America encourages families to consider organ donation and maintains a organ donor database at www.donatelife.net.
Paul Sisson
OCEANSIDE -- When Karen and Gene Wos see their son Brian's portrait making its way down Colorado Boulevard as part of the 119th Rose Parade, it will be a tribute not just to his life, but also to the good work he did after a motorcycle accident claimed his life.
"We miss our son like there's no tomorrow, but, to be able to see what he has done, it's just a real gift," Karen Wos said.
At 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 4, 2006, Brian Wos' new Kawasaki motorcycle veered off Highway 76 west of South Mission Road. The 19-year-old rider suffered a severe, and eventually fatal, head injury, but the accident left most of his vital organs intact. Karen Wos said she talked with her son about organ donorship before the accident, and he had said he wanted to give as much as possible.
"His response was, 'Well, if I'm done with it, why not pass it on?' " she said. "When he was pronounced (dead), we did not have to make that decision. We felt like we were carrying out his wishes."
Wos is one of 40 organ donors to be commemorated with 2-foot "floragraph" portraits on the 2008 Donate Life America float that will participate in the Rose Parade on Jan. 1. The float is designed to inspire more organ donorship.
Karen Wos said her son's organ donations helped seven recipients, including 54-year-old Danny Kohler.
Kohler, who lives in Cherry Valley near San Bernardino, said the kidney and pancreas donations he received from Brian have allowed him to escape nightly 10-hour dialysis sessions and regular insulin injections necessary to fight his inherited Type 1 diabetes.
"We have Brian's picture up on our piano," Kohler said. "He changed my whole life."
Kohler said that kidney and pancreas transplants usually take at least 24 hours to begin functioning normally. But he said tests showed that Brian's donations began working immediately.
Karen Wos said her son was always the kind of guy who did not want to wait for tomorrow.
"That's Brian. Why wait 24 hours? Why not get going right away?" she said.
Wos traveled to Pasadena on Dec. 1 to help create her son's floragraph. Rose Parade rules specify that all materials used in float decoration be natural, so paint on canvas was out. Instead, a portrait is created using crushed seeds, coffee and even Cream of Wheat glued to flat cardboard.
A line drawing of Brian was sketched on the backing and the natural materials were glued on top to create a blended and textured design.
"The way they had it set up for the families, it was easy, it was almost like paint by numbers," she said.
The Wos family will travel to Pasadena on New Year's Day to see Brian's portrait in the parade. Danny Kohler and his wife, Sylvia, will meet Karen and Gene Wos there.
Kohler said he would not miss a chance to see Brian's portrait.
"We consider Gene and Kathy part of the family," he said. "My job now is just to live a good life and keep Brian's memory going as long as I can."
After the parade is over, the Wos family will get to keep Brian's portrait, which has been sprayed with a plastic coating to keep it together for years to come.
Meeting their son's organ recipients might seem a painful ordeal. But they said the experience has actually proven cathartic.
"They (the donors) thank us, but we tell them, no thank you, you're keeping a little piece of our son alive," Karen Wos said. "It just amazes me what my son has done."
Donate Life America encourages families to consider organ donation and maintains a organ donor database at www.donatelife.net.
Paul Sisson
Little Kaylee grows up
Jeff Cook/Quad-City Times Kaylee Lindley plays air hockey with her dad, Jim, who in 2003 donated part of his liver to her when she was 19 days old. Buy this Photo!
PORT BYRON, Ill. — Forgive Kellie Lindley if she had no opinion about organ transplants much before 2003.
In 2003, you see, her baby daughter was saved in a momentous, historic operation when her husband, Dr. Jim Lindley, donated part of his liver to save his tiny, 19-day-old child. At the time, Kaylee was the world’s youngest, living, related-donor liver transplant patient.
She was born without the cells that make up the substance of the liver, which meant Kaylee’s liver could not produce the materials that clot blood or remove poisonous substances from the blood. A transplant would be needed to survive.
Kaylee Susan Lindley is now an active 4-year-old, attends preschool every day and is “doing just fine,” according to her dad, 45, who is a family medicine physician at Genesis Medical Center — Illini Campus, Silvis, Ill.
Jim Lindley, the live donor, feels fine and has no ill effects from his part of the surgery, done at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City. There is a scar on his chest which, Kellie said, “looks like the Mercedes logo without the circle.”
Some issues continue
Kaylee is dealing with some medical issues but has started school and is a happy, charismatic child with a grand vocabulary. The 4-year-old is blind in one eye, has no tooth enamel yet and has a pre-cancerous blood condition.
She has survived 16 operations.
There are medications, taken daily. Her parents, like others who care for transplant patients, give Kaylee immunosuppressants to keep the organ healthy.
Kaylee’s parents are vigilant and watchful because these drugs can leave a child more susceptible to infections. A recent chicken pox scare meant Kellie Lindley was in immediate contact with Kaylee’s doctors and nurses in Iowa City.
But the future is bright, Dr. Alan Reed said. Reed, professor and chief of transplant surgery, is also the new director of the hospital’s Organ Transplant Center. Reed has done many transplants on children when he previously worked in Florida, but he did not operate on Kaylee.
Severe complications are most worrisome in the first year after a transplant, Reed said.
“But kids have pretty good survival rates after liver transplants,” he added, noting most risks do come from infection.
Children on whom Reed performed transplants 15 to 20 years ago keep in touch with the doctor, and he’s been invited to their weddings and graduation ceremonies.
“Kaylee will have some things she has to watch out for, of course. But she can expect to grow up and have children of her own some day,” Reed said.
It’s a blur
The crisis with Kaylee came as a deep shock to her parents. Kellie had tried in vitro fertilization four times, and Kaylee was the only baby who survived. The Lindleys also have twin adopted boys, Justice and Rhyis, now 7 years old and in the second grade.
“We tried for years to have a baby,” said Kellie Lindley, 44. “She was a very welcomed child.”
The 2003 operation and first year after it was a blur.
“We missed every single holiday that first year,” Kellie Lindley recalled, explaining that a health crisis seemed to happen on the same day as big events.
The couple spent three months immediately after Kaylee’s birth in the Ronald McDonald House, for example. The 2003 Christmas was celebrated in Iowa City with the twin boys, who came in for the holiday.
The boys, who were 3 years old at the time, stayed with family members in the Quad-Cities. The Lindleys said their family and friends provided a lot of support during these difficult months.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is like a Lifetime movie,’” Kellie Lindley said. She felt as if she floated above the events, looking down. “There was a lot of pain and tears,” she remembered.
“I also prayed a lot, and our friends and family members started a prayer line,” she said.
Life has slowly improved. Jim and Kellie Lindley, for example, recently took their first vacation in four years. Curley-haired Kaylee gets along well with her brothers, and on a recent December night, she played with her toys while Justice and Rhyis competed on a video game.
Kaylee wore a special shirt which read: “The Greatest Present Ever.”
PORT BYRON, Ill. — Forgive Kellie Lindley if she had no opinion about organ transplants much before 2003.
In 2003, you see, her baby daughter was saved in a momentous, historic operation when her husband, Dr. Jim Lindley, donated part of his liver to save his tiny, 19-day-old child. At the time, Kaylee was the world’s youngest, living, related-donor liver transplant patient.
She was born without the cells that make up the substance of the liver, which meant Kaylee’s liver could not produce the materials that clot blood or remove poisonous substances from the blood. A transplant would be needed to survive.
Kaylee Susan Lindley is now an active 4-year-old, attends preschool every day and is “doing just fine,” according to her dad, 45, who is a family medicine physician at Genesis Medical Center — Illini Campus, Silvis, Ill.
Jim Lindley, the live donor, feels fine and has no ill effects from his part of the surgery, done at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City. There is a scar on his chest which, Kellie said, “looks like the Mercedes logo without the circle.”
Some issues continue
Kaylee is dealing with some medical issues but has started school and is a happy, charismatic child with a grand vocabulary. The 4-year-old is blind in one eye, has no tooth enamel yet and has a pre-cancerous blood condition.
She has survived 16 operations.
There are medications, taken daily. Her parents, like others who care for transplant patients, give Kaylee immunosuppressants to keep the organ healthy.
Kaylee’s parents are vigilant and watchful because these drugs can leave a child more susceptible to infections. A recent chicken pox scare meant Kellie Lindley was in immediate contact with Kaylee’s doctors and nurses in Iowa City.
But the future is bright, Dr. Alan Reed said. Reed, professor and chief of transplant surgery, is also the new director of the hospital’s Organ Transplant Center. Reed has done many transplants on children when he previously worked in Florida, but he did not operate on Kaylee.
Severe complications are most worrisome in the first year after a transplant, Reed said.
“But kids have pretty good survival rates after liver transplants,” he added, noting most risks do come from infection.
Children on whom Reed performed transplants 15 to 20 years ago keep in touch with the doctor, and he’s been invited to their weddings and graduation ceremonies.
“Kaylee will have some things she has to watch out for, of course. But she can expect to grow up and have children of her own some day,” Reed said.
It’s a blur
The crisis with Kaylee came as a deep shock to her parents. Kellie had tried in vitro fertilization four times, and Kaylee was the only baby who survived. The Lindleys also have twin adopted boys, Justice and Rhyis, now 7 years old and in the second grade.
“We tried for years to have a baby,” said Kellie Lindley, 44. “She was a very welcomed child.”
The 2003 operation and first year after it was a blur.
“We missed every single holiday that first year,” Kellie Lindley recalled, explaining that a health crisis seemed to happen on the same day as big events.
The couple spent three months immediately after Kaylee’s birth in the Ronald McDonald House, for example. The 2003 Christmas was celebrated in Iowa City with the twin boys, who came in for the holiday.
The boys, who were 3 years old at the time, stayed with family members in the Quad-Cities. The Lindleys said their family and friends provided a lot of support during these difficult months.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is like a Lifetime movie,’” Kellie Lindley said. She felt as if she floated above the events, looking down. “There was a lot of pain and tears,” she remembered.
“I also prayed a lot, and our friends and family members started a prayer line,” she said.
Life has slowly improved. Jim and Kellie Lindley, for example, recently took their first vacation in four years. Curley-haired Kaylee gets along well with her brothers, and on a recent December night, she played with her toys while Justice and Rhyis competed on a video game.
Kaylee wore a special shirt which read: “The Greatest Present Ever.”
ORGAN TRANSPLANTS Teralynn again awaits new liver and kidneys
ORGAN TRANSPLANTS Teralynn again awaits new liver and kidneys
Teralynn remains on the top of the donor list at the Cleveland Clinic for her weight class.
By ANGIE SCHMITT
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Teralynn Landis McGath's young life has been full of ups and downs.
Diagnosed at 2 months old with a fatal liver disease called tyrosinemia, she underwent three liver transplants before her fourth birthday.
Against all odds, Teralynn survived, defying her doctor's terminal prognosis and becoming the youngest Mahoning Valley resident to undergo an organ transplant.
In October 2006, the 22-year-old was married before a joyful mother and father.
Now her story has taken another turn. She received word in July that both her liver and kidneys are in need of replacement.
After 19 years of use, her liver has succumbed to sclerosis, a form of scarring common in transplant patients. Meanwhile, her kidneys have suffered irreparable damage from anti-organ-rejection medication, according to her mother, Kathy Landis.
"She's been real sick," her mother said. "This whole year she's been in and out of hospitals
Teralynn remains on the top of the donor list at the Cleveland Clinic for her weight class.
By ANGIE SCHMITT
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Teralynn Landis McGath's young life has been full of ups and downs.
Diagnosed at 2 months old with a fatal liver disease called tyrosinemia, she underwent three liver transplants before her fourth birthday.
Against all odds, Teralynn survived, defying her doctor's terminal prognosis and becoming the youngest Mahoning Valley resident to undergo an organ transplant.
In October 2006, the 22-year-old was married before a joyful mother and father.
Now her story has taken another turn. She received word in July that both her liver and kidneys are in need of replacement.
After 19 years of use, her liver has succumbed to sclerosis, a form of scarring common in transplant patients. Meanwhile, her kidneys have suffered irreparable damage from anti-organ-rejection medication, according to her mother, Kathy Landis.
"She's been real sick," her mother said. "This whole year she's been in and out of hospitals
Thursday, December 27, 2007
At Christmas, a new chance
At Christmas, a new chance
By Blythe Bernhard
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/25/2007
For a few families spending Christmas in the cardiac intensive care unit at St. Louis Children's Hospital, the best presents are new hearts and new lungs.
Surgeons at the hospital have performed four heart and four lung transplants so far this month. The hospital's organ transplant waiting list holds another 80 children who are hoping for their chance.
Olivia Billings, 4, received a heart transplant on Sunday. Her heart, which has had trouble pumping ever since her premature birth, was replaced with a healthy one from a pediatric donor.
The lifesaving surgeries are a reminder of the bittersweet equation of organ transplantation: For one child to get a chance at a new life, another child had to die.
The Billings family hopes to someday thank the family that made the decision to donate their child's organs, if they wish to be contacted.
"Because of their child, our child lives," said Clifton Billings, of Green Ridge, Mo. "It makes you look at being a donor a lot differently."
Before her surgery, Olivia asked Santa Claus for a Dora the Explorer bowling game and a Mickey Mouse clubhouse. On Christmas Eve, weakened by medications, all she wanted was a glass of milk.
Last year, about 90 children received organ transplants in Missouri, and another 14 died on waiting lists.
Down the hall, Britney McCoy spent Christmas Eve with her mother, uncle, two aunts and a cousin. McCoy, 20, first went on the transplant list in March of 2006.
"I didn't ask for anything for Christmas, just a heart," she said.
When she gets stronger, McCoy wants to return to her business classes at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley.
Lena and Clifton Billings also were making plans as they sat at their daughter's bedside, holding her hands and rubbing her feet. They have tickets for their first family trip to Disney World for Olivia's fifth birthday in March. And the little girl has a preschool class waiting for her return.
"She's known nothing but machines her whole life," he said. "I guess this Christmas would be the start of a new life."
By Blythe Bernhard
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/25/2007
For a few families spending Christmas in the cardiac intensive care unit at St. Louis Children's Hospital, the best presents are new hearts and new lungs.
Surgeons at the hospital have performed four heart and four lung transplants so far this month. The hospital's organ transplant waiting list holds another 80 children who are hoping for their chance.
Olivia Billings, 4, received a heart transplant on Sunday. Her heart, which has had trouble pumping ever since her premature birth, was replaced with a healthy one from a pediatric donor.
The lifesaving surgeries are a reminder of the bittersweet equation of organ transplantation: For one child to get a chance at a new life, another child had to die.
The Billings family hopes to someday thank the family that made the decision to donate their child's organs, if they wish to be contacted.
"Because of their child, our child lives," said Clifton Billings, of Green Ridge, Mo. "It makes you look at being a donor a lot differently."
Before her surgery, Olivia asked Santa Claus for a Dora the Explorer bowling game and a Mickey Mouse clubhouse. On Christmas Eve, weakened by medications, all she wanted was a glass of milk.
Last year, about 90 children received organ transplants in Missouri, and another 14 died on waiting lists.
Down the hall, Britney McCoy spent Christmas Eve with her mother, uncle, two aunts and a cousin. McCoy, 20, first went on the transplant list in March of 2006.
"I didn't ask for anything for Christmas, just a heart," she said.
When she gets stronger, McCoy wants to return to her business classes at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley.
Lena and Clifton Billings also were making plans as they sat at their daughter's bedside, holding her hands and rubbing her feet. They have tickets for their first family trip to Disney World for Olivia's fifth birthday in March. And the little girl has a preschool class waiting for her return.
"She's known nothing but machines her whole life," he said. "I guess this Christmas would be the start of a new life."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
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