US regulators warn doctors of organ transplant drug's risks to pregnant women

Here is a further warning about the anti-rejection drug CellCept and it's potential to cause miscarriages and birth defects when used by pregnant women. See my post last month about patients who developed rare neurological problems while taking the drug.

From the International Herald Tribune:

WASHINGTON: Health regulators reiterated their warning Friday that organ transplant drugs from Roche and Novartis can cause miscarriages and birth defects when used by pregnant women.

The Food and Drug Administration previously said it received reports of miscarriages and infants born with ear and mouth birth defects after their mothers had taken Roche's CellCept.

FDA added its most serious warning to CellCept and a similar Novartis AG drug, Myfortic, last October, noting they can cause miscarriage and other serious problems when used by pregnant women. The drug is used to suppress the body's immune system to avoid organ rejection in transplant patients.

In a notice to physicians posted online Friday, the FDA recommended "confirming that a pregnancy has not occurred and ensuring that patients use effective contraceptive measures."

FDA said most of the reported problems came from mothers who were taking the drug before their pregnancies were detected. Some of the patients were taking the drugs for conditions they are not approved to treat, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

A spokesman for Roche said it has not received new reports of miscarriages or birth defects since updating the drug's labeling. The company previously reported 25 miscarriages among 77 women exposed to the drug between 1995 and 2007.

The agency said it will continue working with Roche and Novartis to reduce use of the drugs by pregnant women.

Friday's FDA warning was the second in less than two months for CellCept, which was Roche's sixth best-selling drug last year with sales of nearly $2 billion (€1.3 billion).

The FDA said Last month it was investigating 16 patients who developed rare neurological problems while taking the drug.

The disease, known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, attacks the brain and central nervous system and is usually fatal. Symptoms include vision problems, loss of coordination and memory loss. Patients who survive are often permanently disabled, according to the FDA.

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Transplant trailblazer

Clarian Health's Indiana University Hospital gets national attention, but some question its zeal

This is a lengthy article but worth reading to the end for the story of how a transplant team has raised the bar and takes risks by using donor organs that other centers decline to use. It also provides an idea of the costs associated with some organ transplants.

From the Indianapolis Business Journal:

It’s Tuesday morning, and Dr. Jonathan Fridell has no transplants scheduled. But this day, like most, the surgeon at Clarian Health’s Indiana University Hospital won’t wait long for things to pick up.

By 9:45 a.m., the blue-scrub-clad Fridell is stamping up and down a hallway of offices on the hospital’s fourth floor, conferring with his fellow surgeons about a doubleheader, kidney-pancreas transplant that’s about to happen.

Clarian Health this decade has transformed its transplant program into one of the busiest in the country. Its team of surgeons takes calls around the clock if a viable organ becomes available. They will hop on a charter plane to check out an organ that other doctors don’t want.

“I’m listening to my phone at night for a call to come in,” said Dr. Joe Tector, the director of Clarian Transplant. Tector is also a professor at the IU School of Medicine.

Clarian’s rapid growth in transplants has drawn interest and even mimicry from other surgeons around the country. But some surgeons also have criticized Clarian and its methods—particularly the practice of accepting livers from sicker donors for patients not in critical need of a transplant.

Transplants are a big health issue—and big business—for academic medical centers like Clarian. A shortage of organs has left 99,000 people on a national waiting list. Hospitals would love to provide those needy patients—and willing customers—an organ, not least because they charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for every transplant they do.

The typical hospital bill for a liver transplant approaches $270,000, according to a 2005 study by Milliman Research. For intestinal transplants, the average charges are $695,000.

Those high charges also come with high costs for the hospital, said Ed Abel, a hospital accountant at Indianapolis-based Blue & Co. But for Clarian, which already had built up the equipment and staff to handle transplants, increasing the number of procedures can only add to profits.

“There’s got to be X amount of fixed costs,” Abel said, adding, “If you’re doubling the number [of transplants], it becomes more profitable.”

Transplant powerhouse

At 10:45 a.m., Fridell bends over a bowl of ice, holding a pancreas, in an operating room in the basement of the hospital. His gloved hands deftly tie sutures to close up openings in the organ.

An iPod connected to speakers blasts The Turtles’ song “Happy Together.” Fridell sings along.

At 11:15, the pancreas is sewn up and lying in a cooler, while another surgeon cuts open the patient’s abdomen. Fridell steps outside, but he’s not taking a break.

While he was preparing the pancreas, a nurse in the operating room took phone calls from the University of Michigan, whose transplant staff was offering another pancreas for transplant. Fridell now punches a number into his BlackBerry and, as he heads down the hall, says, “I think I just got a pancreas for a lady to move this afternoon.”

By juggling surgery and tracking down organs, doctors at Clarian performed 526 transplant surgeries last year, ranking the center No. 6 in the country. It topped all other hospitals for pancreas transplants. In 2005, Clarian ranked No. 3 in the nation, with 604 surgeries.

The number of transplants Clarian has done has more than tripled since 2001, the year Tector arrived from the University of Miami School of Medicine. His team handles all abdominal transplants, which include the liver, pancreas, kidneys and intestines. Other surgeons handle heart and lung transplants.

Tector has hired most of the other surgeons on Clarian’s abdominal team and helped train a dedicated staff of 100 nurses and other assistants.

“The real growth of the program started when he came,” said Dr. Tim Taber, director of kidney transplant patients at Clarian. Taber said the 42-year-old Tector is a virtuoso in the operating room. “He is Mozart.”

At the same time Fridell was working on the pancreas, Tector leaned over a liver patient in an operating room down the hall. A faint burning smell filled the room as his electric cauterizing tool methodically cut loose the patient’s liver.

Techno music thumped off the blue and white tile of the operating room from speakers connected to an iPod. Without a word exchanged, a nurse handed Tector whatever tool he needed exactly when he needed it.

“It’s really teamwork,” Tector said. “The group that we’ve set up works really well together.”

Tector’s team takes about two hours for each liver transplant, while other surgeons take as much as six hours. Fridell does pancreas transplants in about three hours.

In 2007, officials from the transplant division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services visited Clarian to see how its surgeons had raised their volumes so dramatically. In a publication last year, the agency recommended some of Clarian’s practices, along with those of seven other transplant programs around the country.

One key reason Clarian does more procedures is it accepts organs others reject. Doctors turn down donated organs for various reasons. Perhaps the organ offered doesn’t fit their patient or comes from an older donor when the doctor’s recipient is young.

But they also reject organs because of concerns about the donor’s health. For example, many transplant surgeons would reject the liver of an alcoholic. But Tector’s team will go take a look at the liver to see for themselves.

“So the patient drank a lot. That could make a liver bad, but it doesn’t have to,” Tector said. “A lot of times you go look and—Holy Toledo!—this thing’s a great organ.”

Tector defends his method by noting Clarian’s transplant survival rates, which exceed national averages.

His approach also has cut down on waiting times. Since Tector arrived to do liver transplants, Clarian’s average wait time for a new liver has dropped from 27 months to one month, he said.

Just over half of Clarian’s transplant candidates have been waiting more than a year. Nationally, nearly two-thirds of transplant candidates have been waiting that long.

By doing a higher number of transplants, Tector and Fridell said, Clarian’s transplant surgeons and nurses get better at the procedures, make fewer mistakes, and handle complications more easily.

Some doctors uneasy

But other doctors say the real question is whether a patient, particularly one not in critical need of a new organ, would have survived just as well without a transplant.

Researchers at the University of Michigan published a study in February showing that patients with less severe needs for a liver transplant actually have a greater chance of dying if they get a new liver transplant than if they don’t.

Patients’ need for livers is measured by something called a MELD score, which stands for Model for End-stage Liver Disease. Scores can range from 6 to 40, with higher numbers indicating a greater need for a new liver. In general, doctors consider patients with scores of more than 15 as having a critical need. Patients with scores less than 15 are considered in less need.

Since 2005, one-third of Clarian’s liver transplant procedures were done in patients with MELD scores below 15, according to data from the United Network of Organ Sharing.

“Pairing of [high-risk] livers with lower-MELD candidates fails to maximize survival benefit and may deny lifesaving organs to high-MELD candidates who are at high risk of death without transplantation,” wrote Dr. Robert Merion and four of his colleagues at Michigan’s Department of Biostatistics, in an article published by the American Journal of Transplantation.

Tector and Fridell face two state complaints from the families of patients who died after receiving a liver transplant at Clarian. Steven Nelson was 46. Gail E. Biggs was 59. Their surviving family members filed complaints with the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund in 2005, and both cases are still pending.

“They’re both really nice people. And they didn’t live. And that hurts,” Tector said. The attorney for the Nelson family declined to comment. The attorney for the Biggs family could not be reached for comment.

Still, Tector is skeptical of the Michigan researchers’ findings. In any case, he said, they don’t really apply to Clarian’s program. Since wait times are so short at Clarian, he said, he’s not skipping over higher-need patients in order to do a transplant for a lower-need patient.

But the incentive to do just that is there, according to a 2005 Northwestern University study, because it’s less profitable to do a transplant for a sicker patient. The MELD system, implemented in 2002, has led hospitals to do even more transplants in the sickest patients. That caused profit margins to decline 114 percent from 2000 to 2003.

Tector acknowledged that his team’s aggressive approach “doesn’t hurt” the surgeons’ and hospital’s incomes. But he and Fridell said their focus is on making sure no one dies waiting for a transplant.

“If you’re going to get everybody transplanted, you have to use every organ out there,” said Fridell, the day after doing the pancreas transplant. The donation from the University of Michigan hadn’t worked out. But in another hour, he said, he’d be on a plane to Evansville to look at another pancreas.

“The lifestyle of a transplant surgeon is unpredictable,” he said.

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Nevada Officials Look to Improve Organ Transplant Programs

From Las Vegas Now:

Right now, 500 people in Nevada are waiting for life saving organ transplants. Yet here in Clark County, many are forced to go elsewhere for treatment.

Glen "Gondo" Gondrezick is one of those people. He's a former Runnin' Rebel basketball star and radio announcer for the team. He needs a heart transplant and has been in intensive care since last week. He may be able to leave the hospital Thursday.

But if a heart is found, he will still need to travel to California for the surgery. That could soon change. UMC and Sunrise Hospital are taking a major step in improving transplant programs here in the valley. It makes the two hospitals eligible to transplant other organs in the future, but it will take time to get there.

Right now, doctors in Las Vegas only transplant kidneys at two hospitals. In 2007 University Medical Center performed 40 kidney transplants. Sunrise did 26. The hospitals announced they will merge their transplant units and all the surgeries will be at UMC.

There are currently 200 people in southern Nevada waiting for an organ other than a kidney. All of them must leave the state for those procedures. 300 people in southern Nevada are waiting for kidneys. Those procedures will be done at UMC.

In the hospital world, there is a magic number of 50. When one center reaches 50 kidney transplants a year, the hospital receives a Centers for Excellence designation. That opens the door to add transplants for other organs down the road.

Ken Richardson with the Nevada Donor Network says an area as large as we are should be transplanting other organs.

"We are probably now the largest community in the U.S. with two million people that does not have a liver transplant program," he said.

The head of UMC says she wants to expand to liver transplants in the future as a way to continue to expand. The merger will be effective July 1st. All patients are being notified through a letter.

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Push for science to solve organ shortage

We are beginning to see more and more stories about transplant research that may someday have an impact on the organ donation rate and give hope to the thousands of patients waiting for a transplant. As this article notes, scientists have grown skin, bone, cartilage and blood vessels for transplant in patients. The feat, Dr. Doris Taylor told The New York Times, "opens the door to this notion that you can make any organ: kidney, liver, lung, pancreas - you name it and we hope we can make it."

From Concord Monitor in New Hampshire:

At any given time in America, nearly 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. Yesterday a chilling story in The Boston Globe demonstrated how desperate the ill can become, lingering on the waiting list for years. Two patients, a 57-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman, each agreed to accept a kidney from a deceased donor whose organs were approved under new "expanded" criteria. The kidneys they received came from a 49-year-old homeless man.

The tight transplant timetable and the cost of running the multitude of tests that can now be performed means that most organs are tested only for some of them - AIDS and hepatitis, for example. The homeless donor, however, carried a rare virus that is usually found in rats. The female transplant patient died and, as of yesterday, the male patient was fighting for his life.

When the alternative is death, most patients and most medical professionals are willing to gamble. At least one study has found that recipients who are older and people who received organs approved under the expanded standards - like those from an older donor or someone with high blood pressure - face only a slightly elevated risk.

Medical progress ensures that organ demand always outstrips the supply. That's creating ethical dilemmas that need to be resolved. It is illegal to sell a human organ but legal to donate one.

It is permissible to specify the recipient of one's organ, allowing that person to jump ahead of others whose time may be shorter. But people often advertise widely for an donated organ using a particularly poignant story that may or may not be accurate. Should they be allowed to shortcut the process designed to make sure that organs go to those whose need is most urgent?

Should it be illegal to sell a human organ? The director of bioethics studies at the libertarian Cato Institute and others with faith in market solutions to problems believes that it should be, given informed consent. If it saves lives, and it no doubt would, shouldn't the sale of an organ or organ tissue be allowed?

To increase the supply of viable organs for transplant, the meaning of death is being reclassified to include not just "brain death" but cardiac arrest. There is, however, disagreement over how long a person's heart must remain stopped before death can be declared and organs removed.

These questions will take on added urgency as baby boomers age and more older patients seek and benefit from organ transplants. But an end to such dilemmas is looking more likely all the time.

Scientists have grown skin, bone, cartilage and blood vessels for transplant in patients. In 2006, Boston researchers successfully grew and implanted tissue that formed roughly half the bladders of seven young patients. And this year, a University of Minnesota research team revealed that it had taken the valves and "architecture" of a heart from a dead rat that had been scrubbed of all its cells and seeded it with cells from a newborn rat. Within months, in a petri dish in their lab, a new rat heart was beating and pumping a small amount of blood.

The feat, Dr. Doris Taylor told The New York Times, "opens the door to this notion that you can make any organ: kidney, liver, lung, pancreas - you name it and we hope we can make it."

For tens of thousands of people, that day can't come soon enough. In the meantime, unless many more people sign up to be organ donors, the only hope for some patients lies in accepting an organ from a homeless donor.

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Kidney transplant donor to climb Mount Blanc

Living kidney donor Steve Gannon, with his one remaining kidney, will be climbing Mont-Blanc this June

The Mont Blanc Ascent and organ donation from living donors - Two challenges to out do oneself

MONTREAL, May 13 /CNW Telbec/ - The adventure that brothers Mike and Steve Gannon experienced is anything but ordinary: In June 2007, Steve donated one of his kidneys to Mike, allowing him to regain a normal life. Indeed organ donation between living individuals is still very rare, despite its numerous benefits to both to the donors and the recipients.

In order to inform the public about this altruistic type of donation, Roche Canada, the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Quebec Branch and the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) have joined their efforts to organize the Mont Blanc Ascent, consisting of a team of 12 climbers who will scale the highest mountain in the Alps.

One year later, Mike is in good health, and his brother Steve will join the Mont Blanc Ascent, beginning on the French side of the mountain, in Chamonix, from June 12th to the 18th. "By climbing one of the tallest peaks in Europe, which is an achievement in itself, we want to symbolically show how this type of organ donation represents the challenge of outdoing oneself. A donor with only a single kidney can accomplish this feat," explains Mr. Marc Laroche, Manager of Service Operations, Professional Services at Roche Diagnostics, and one of the visionaries of the project. "The advantages of organ donation between living individuals are numerous. The psychological benefits for the donor definitely exceed the risks of donating," added Dr. Michel R. Pâquet, nephrologist and President of the CHUM Organ Donation Committee, who is serving as the project's consulting specialist and who will also climb Mont Blanc. "Donors must be in excellent heath in order to minimize the short- and long-term risks of damaging the remaining kidney," he said.

More than 32,000 Canadians suffer from kidney failure, including more than 7,000 individuals in Québec, who often require hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or a graft. A kidney transplant, particularly from a living donor, constitutes the best treatment for patients suffering from kidney failure.

To learn more about the Mont Blanc Ascent, to become a living donor or to contribute to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, please visit Mont-Blanc 2008.com.

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Surgery beta blockers 'up risk'

I was placed on the beta-blocker metoprolol (LoPressor) following my lung transplant six years ago and have been on it ever since. Now I wonder if any of the side effects mentioned in this article could apply to me post transplant?

From BBC News:

The use of beta blocker drugs before surgery to cut the risk of heart problems may be counter-productive, a study suggests.

Researchers found patients given the drugs were a third more likely to die within a month of surgery than those given a dummy pill.

Those on the blood pressure-lowering drugs also had double the risk of having a stroke.

The study, by Canada's McMaster University, appears in The Lancet.

Although use of the drugs did reduce the risk of a heart attack following surgery, the researchers concluded that on balance they did more harm than good.

They estimate use of the drugs before surgery may have contributed to at least 800,000 deaths worldwide in the past decade.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said the research emphasised the importance of undertaking large clinical trials, rather than assuming that drugs will only do what is expected of them.

"Fortunately, the practice of giving beta blockers to all patients at risk of vascular disease before surgery is not widespread in the UK.

"Also, the results of this trial - of a relatively high dose of a beta blocker given before surgery - do not mean patients stabilised on long term beta blocker therapy will be at increased risk if they have surgery."

Researcher Dr PJ Devereaux said: "There is a real potential that beta blockers are causing serious harm in the surgical setting.

"If my mother was undergoing surgery and given a beta blocker, I would be extremely upset based on this evidence."

Counter to stress

It has long been thought that using beta blockers before major surgery protects the heart against the stress of the procedure.

Surgery often raises levels of a stress hormone known as catecholamine, which drives up a person's blood pressure and heart rate.

Beta blockers block the effects of increased catecholamines.

The McMaster team studied more than 8,000 patients in 23 countries who were undergoing major surgery unrelated to the heart, but who had or were at risk of clogged arteries.

Half were given the beta blocker metoprolol two to four hours before and 30 days after their surgery. The other half got a placebo.

The results suggests that the use of beta blockers could prevent 15 out of every 1,000 people with similar risks undergoing similar surgery from having a heart attack.

However, eight more people would die, five more would have a stroke, 53% would have abnormally low blood pressure and 42% would have an abnormally slow heart beat.

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The 18-year-old girl who has had three hearts

From the Daily Mail in London, England:
Leanne Nicholson is in many ways like any other 18-year-old. Slim, blonde, pretty, and planning a career as a youth worker, she is devoted to her pony Merrylegs and her fluffy Pomeranian dog Timothy.

But she is also a medical miracle, and lucky to be alive.

In her short life Leanne has had no fewer than three hearts - the one she was born with and not one, but two transplanted hearts.

Today, she is recovering at her home in Choppington, in Northumberland, from her second heart transplant three months ago.

"To receive a second heart transplant is a million-to-one chance as there is such a shortage of donor organs," says Leanne.

"I know now I have to do the very best I can with my life and make the most of the chances I've been given.

"I'm just so grateful to the families who lost their loved ones and took the difficult decision to donate their hearts for transplantation. I think about them every day, without fail."

Until the age of 12, Leanne was a normal, healthy child.

"She used to be outside doing handstands and riding ponies all the time. She was the picture of health," says her mother Helen, 40, a youth worker.

But in April 2002 a virus - unnamed and unknown - swept through her body, attacking the muscle tissue of her heart.

"At first we thought Leanne had flu," says her father Robert, also 40, who runs a cleaning company.

"We had no idea how ill she was. She just seemed under the weather. Then she began to be listless and had difficulty walking up the stairs.

"So we took her to our GP. The doctor listened to her heart and visibly went pale. The next thing we knew we were rushing to hospital in an ambulance.

"At the hospital we were with Leanne in a treatment room surrounded by so many doctors we lost count. After what seemed like forever one of them took us aside to tell us the bad news."

Leanne was diagnosed with severe cardiomyopathy, literally "heart muscle disease".

Her heart was so damaged by the virus - which by then had passed out of her system - that the doctors said it was as though she'd suffered three major heart attacks.

The upper two chambers of her heart were not functioning at all and the lower two were barely beating. Leanne was put on life support.

"The next morning she was no better and the prospect of a heart transplant was mentioned to us for the first time," says Helen.

"I was horrified and totally numb. You get almost jellified with fear for your child. I had difficulty stringing a sentence together and could barely walk."

Leanne was listed as requiring a heart transplant at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, a centre of excellence for the surgery.

She was put to the top of the waiting list as a "super urgent" patient (for those who are so unwell they cannot leave hospital) and the transplant team sought donors for her via computer link-ups, not just in the UK but worldwide.

The Nicholsons watched, waited and prayed in the hospital chapel that a suitable match would be found.

Doctors who organise transplant matches try to minimise the likelihood of the body rejecting a heart. Finding an exact tissue match between two completely unrelated individuals is very difficult, but a perfect match is not always necessary because rejection can be overcome through the use of immunosuppressive drugs.

"We were told that without a transplant we would be saying goodbye to Leanne within days," says Helen.

But within 48 hours, they received positive news. A possible heart was available.

"We stayed up all night on pure adrenaline, as you're told so many things might go wrong. You can't be sure of anything until the heart actually arrives," says Helen.

"That night was very clear and still and you could have heard a pin drop.

"At 2.45am I realised I could hear sirens shrieking from miles away. The transplant coordinator told us the good news with a huge grin on her face - it was Leanne's new heart, being raced to us by ambulance from a hospital in Cambridgeshire.

"We were in the foyer to see it arrive. A doctor literally ran in, carrying the box with the heart in it. But he found the time to look across to us and give us the thumbs-up.

"I'll never forget the feeling of intense thankfulness and awe. It was almost overwhelming to think that someone had died and that their organ donation was giving Leanne a chance of life."

All the Nicholsons know is that the heart came from a young woman who had died of a head injury. "Our gratitude to her and her family is limitless," says Robert.

The transplant was that morning and, to everyone's huge relief, it was a success. After several weeks of recovery, at first in a high-dependency ward, Leanne went home. Read the full story and view more pictures.

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Young woman receives double-lung transplant

Fifteen-year-old Haley Gall is only the second pediatric Cystic Fibrosis patient to receive a double-lung transplant at Capital Health's Stollery Children's Hospital. Here she blows out the candle on a cupcake to demonstrate how well her new lungs work. She will be able to do it for real on June 25 when she turns 16. Photo Rick MacWilliam / Edmonton Journal

From the Calgary Herald (Canada):

Catherine Griwkowsky , The Edmonton Journal (Canada)
Haley Gall blew out a 16th birthday candle atop a tower of cupcakes at the Stollery Children's Hospital today.

Cystic fibrosis meant she couldn't blow out candles before. Now she can, thanks to an anonymous organ donor who allowed her to become the youngest patient at the Stollery to receive a double lung transplant.

"Now that I have lungs, I can live again," Gall told a news conference.

Gall went in for surgery April 10, two days after being told she was going to die. She was on the organ donor list for six weeks.

Dr. Jackson Wong, a pediatric pulmonologist, said lung transplants are difficult - only a few are done Canada-wide per year - but medical advances are allowing the tricky surgery to be successfully performed on younger patients.

Wong said there's "no magic equation" to see how long Gall will live.

"Every breath was a struggle," Wong said. "Her life expectancy is much better than before."

She will be discharged tomorrow.

Facts

- The first single and double lung transplants in the world, were both performed in Canada

- 1 in 3,600 children in Canada have cystic fibrosis

- the University of Alberta is one of five hospitals in Canada to perform lung transplants

- There is still not a cure for cystic fibrosis

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

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New device made Hendershot's dream of organ donation possible

Hopefully this procedure will become routine with paramedics everywhere and make many more organs available to those waiting for a life-saving transplant. As the article notes, an "EZ 10" drill costs about $720, a small price to pay for equipping every ambulance with one.

The "EZ IO", an intraosseus device, allowed paramedic J.P. Miller, of the Community Rescue Service in Hagerstown, left, to administer fluid and medications to help sustain the life of N. Linn Hendershot until he reached the hospital. Hendershot was instrumental in getting the device for the Community Rescue Service. Also on the rescue call were EMT-B Steve Pifer, center, and Capt. Jeremy Mackrell. (By Kelly Hahn Johnson/Staff Photographer)

From the Herald-Mail.com:

HAGERSTOWN, Maryland - Many are aware that N. Linn Hendershot left a rich legacy for anyone coping with a disability, but few know it was truly a living legacy.

Seven organs were harvested from the community activist and former Hagerstown City Council member after his May 1 death. The organ donations were made possible with the help of a new piece of lifesaving equipment - the EZ-IO - demonstrated to Hendershot on April 29, the day he fell ill.

"Later that very day, we used it for the first time, on Linn," Community Rescue Service Assistant Chief Dave Hays said.

The device uses a drill to insert a needle into a person's bone just above the ankle, establishing a means to deliver fluids and/or medication in an emergency, Hays said.

While it wasn't able to preserve Hendershot's life, use of the device enabled the CRS crew to get him to the hospital fast enough that his organs remained viable and could be harvested, according to Terry Trovinger, CRS chief financial officer.

"It was Linn's wish," Trovinger said of organ donation.

Cynthia Perini, Hendershot's niece, said the organ donations and her uncle's strong desire to help others came as no surprise to the family.

"It was a sincere illustration of what Linn was all about," Perini said. "He truly walked the walk."

Trovinger and Hays visited Hendershot at his Western Maryland Hospital Center office on the morning of April 29.

They were there to ask Hendershot to lend his support for additional funding for the new West End CRS station before the Hagerstown City Council, a body on which Hendershot once served.

While it wasn't able to preserve Hendershot's life, use of the device enabled the CRS crew to get him to the hospital fast enough that his organs remained viable and could be harvested, according to Terry Trovinger, CRS chief financial officer.


"It was Linn's wish," Trovinger said of organ donation.


Cynthia Perini, Hendershot's niece, said the organ donations and her uncle's strong desire to help others came as no surprise to the family.


"It was a sincere illustration of what Linn was all about," Perini said. "He truly walked the walk."

Trovinger and Hays visited Hendershot at his Western Maryland Hospital Center office on the morning of April 29.

They were there to ask Hendershot to lend his support for additional funding for the new West End CRS station before the Hagerstown City Council, a body on which Hendershot once served.

"The city usually gives us $75,000 a year," Trovinger said. CRS hoped to get at least $100,000 with Hendershot's help.

That morning, Hays and Trovinger also mentioned to Hendershot that CRS needed contributions to purchase additional EZ-IOs at a cost of about $720 each for the drill and two adult and two pediatric needles. Ten would be needed to put one in each CRS vehicle, Hays said.

"Linn wanted one of these on every ambulance," Trovinger said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

TORONTO BOARD OF RABBIS SHOW SUPPORT FOR ORGAN DONATION

Trillium Gift of Life Network works with Toronto Board of Rabbis to get message out

Toronto, ON – The Toronto Board of Rabbis (TBR) and Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) are working together to promote organ and tissue donation awareness, to deliver sermons from Toronto pulpits and distribute information pamphlets to hospital chaplaincies illustrating the support for organ donation within the Jewish religion.

“I’m so proud this partnership is continuing to thrive,” said Frank Markel, President & CEO of TGLN. “It’s important that all religions understand that organ donation is a positive decision, and that there are no barriers because of strong religious affiliation. The sermons delivered this Saturday speak volumes for the importance of organ and tissue donation, we hope that people will decide to be donors and speak to their family about their wishes. ”

Eya Donald-Greenland has herself made the life-saving decision. Her son was a donor following a massive heart attack. “The opportunity to offer the gift of life to so many others, at the worst moment of our own lives, has enriched and strengthened our family beyond measure. The knowledge that so much good resulted from his death has inspired us and helped us to heal.”

This is the second year Toronto-area Rabbis have collectively delivered “inspirational” sermons supporting organ donation. Last year, the sermons helped correct the misperception that Judaism does not support organ donation and congregants across the city were inspired to make their donation wishes known by talking with their families.

"Every day that passes, people are left wondering if they will have another day of life as they desperately await the news of an organ that could save their life,” said Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich, President of the Toronto Board of Rabbis. “This is a crisis not only for them, but for their families – spouses, parents, children and communities. The gift of life, in the form of organ donation, is truly a gift of love, as well. The Rabbis of the Toronto Board of Rabbis are honored to bring this message to our congregations again. The impact of last year was significant in raising our community's awareness to this need, and we will continue year after year until no one needs to wait for this life saving gift of kindness.”

Today in Ontario, 1719 patients are on the waiting list. Of those, 1073 are men, 620 are women and 26 of those patients are children.

“Working with the Jewish Community is an important step,” said Markel. “We are working hard with many different faiths to educate their congregations on organ and tissue donation because we know there are very few religious barriers to donation.”

For more details on Trillium Gift of Life Network please go to TGLN or call 416.363.4001 or toll free 1-800-263-2833.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Over 6,000 people run/walk for organ donation

From the Daily Titan, California State University at Fullerton:

Participants show their support by attending sixth annual event

A wide and varied collection of organizations joined with thousands of donor family members at the sixth annual Donate Life Run/Walk at Cal State Fullerton to support the life-saving cause of organ and tissue donation.

Last year more than 8,000 deceased donors made more than 22,000 organ transplants possible. There were nearly 7,000 transplants from living donors.

However, "demand for organ, eye and tissue transplants continues to grow unmet," according to Donate Life America, "a not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and local coalitions across the United States dedicated to inspiring all people to save and enhance lives through organ, eye and tissue donation," at DonateLife.

"We have already put it in our wills, so that our children know [our wishes]" said Gerrie Karczynski, who works at St. Joseph's Hospital and was there with her husband.

She attends organ donation consultations and renal transplants meetings.

"It's very important to donate because it saves people's lives by giving them life," Karczynski said.

Her husband Stan Karczynski, who works for St. Joseph's Home Health, reiterated those same sentiments.

"If you can save a life through something that happens to me or my wife, it feels good to know ahead of time that I might be able to help somebody," Stan said.

The Karczynskis said anyone of any age can participate in organ donation.

"It doesn't matter how old you are. Older people think that their organs are useless ... don't hesitate because you think you're too old," Karczynski said.

Sandra Ho, Asian Community Development Coordinator for OneLegacy, a Donate Life America organization, is working to motivate people to donate their organs and help and save someone's life.

"[Today] We have more than 6,000 people participating," Ho said. "It gets bigger every year."

There are close to 100,000 people, of all ages awaiting transplants to help them continue their life, according to a One Legacy pamphlet given at the event on April 26.

While the number of participants grows yearly, the message of organ donation is always foremost on the minds of the organizers.

"It's very important because [more than] 13 people die every day while waiting, but these people can be saved," Ho said.

Ho also said that traditionally, Asian Americans do not donate as much as Caucasians, so she is actively seeking to increase organ donation awareness among Asian Americans.

One person who is grateful for organ donation is Todd Sato, the ambassador for Donate Life America.

As of this July, he will have had a transplanted heart for 10 years.

Sato said he had heart surgery when he was three months old and doctors had to switch his aortic valves.

He continued with his life as normal, until he found out during his junior year in high school that he would have to get a heart transplant.

"I graduated high school and two weeks later, I had a heart transplant," Sato said.

This heart transplant saved his life and touched the lives of his family.

"I'm the only one [in his family] who has gone through an ordeal like this," Sato said. "For them to see me every day ... in a way, I'm a walking miracle."

Sato said he is grateful to the donor and the donor's family who gave him the heart.

He said he would be happy to meet the donor's family to thank them for giving him a second chance to live.

"The one thing I would like to say to students is that donating life to someone else is not only a gift to the recipient, but to their family," Sato said.

April was National Donate Life Month, which was established in 2003 to celebrate organ donation.

Americans who have not donated are encouraged to do so, according to the OrganDonor.gov Web site at: Get Involved and at Organ Donor.

"We think at 18 or 22 we know what we're doing or what lies ahead," Sato said. "Honestly, we don't know what tomorrow's going to be like. Don't take life for granted. Live each day to the fullest."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Transplants in Ontario Year-to-Date

Here are the total transplants performed in the Province of Ontario this year to date followed by waiting list totals, as posted on the Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) web site. Check this site often as figures are updated daily.

At the Trillium site you will find more statistics and you can also compare this year's transplants to the 10-year history and get an idea of how we're doing. For example, for all of 2006 there were 87 lung and heart-lung transplants performed and by comparison that total was well surpassed in 2007 with 100 lung and heart-lung transplants done in Ontario.

Liver - From Deceased Donors 44
Liver - From Living Donors 15
Heart - 18
Kidney - From Deceased Donors 72
Kidney - From Living Donors 76
Lung 29
Heart - Lung 0
Pancreas 1
Small Bowel 0
Kidney - Pancreas 7
TOTAL TRANSPLANTS PERFORMED 266

WAITING LIST YEAR-TO-DATE
Liver 360
Heart 44
Kidney 1186
Lung 51
Heart Lung 4
Pancreas 25
Small Bowel 5
Kidney Pancreas 46

TOTAL ON WAITING LIST 1721

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Dialysis, organ donation examined

11-year-old Sarah Marshall, the world's youngest multi-organ recipient wowed this audience with her story of receiving "The Gift of Life" and her message of the importance of organ donation. "This is very important to me, as I am one of the lucky people who received that gift", she said.

From Northumberland Today in Ontario, Canada:

"With only a few days' life expectancy left at the age of five months 24 days, she transferred to the London children's hospital for the transplant of a stomach, pancreas, liver and bowel."

For someone ill with kidney failure, having treatment facilities close by means so much. And for those eligible for a kidney transplant, an organ donation represents the gift of life.

The Northumberland Hills Hospital Caring For Generations Society spring lecture examined these related issues recently, with a dialysis professional and the world's youngest multi-organ transplant recipient.

Committee chair Louise Stevenson had her own brush with dialysis, past and present. Back in 1963, in Saint John, New Brunswick, her mother was diagnosed with kidney failure and became the first dialysis patient in the Maritimes (and one of the few in Canada). Unfortunately, she died not long after her first treatment. Within six months, her brother also died from kidney failure.

Today, her son's kidney transplant has failed and he is in the dialysis unit at Northumberland Hills Hospital.

The procedure purifies the blood when the kidneys can no longer do so, usually three days a week for three to four hours a shot. The machine handles 250 millilitres of blood at a time, dialysis-unit director Kathleen Fair explained, and the average man with normal kidneys has about five litres of blood in his body.

Before Peterborough began offering the service in 2001, Ms. Fair said, patients had to travel to Oshawa or Kingston. The local service operates as a satellite of the Peterborough Regional Renal Program. Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay became its second satellite a year ago.

Dialysis became available in Port Hope in 2002. When the new hospital opened the following year, its 16 patients transferred over. The roster has grown to 45 patients, serviced during two shifts six days a week.

The leading causes of kidney failure are diabetes (it is estimated five to 10 per cent of diabetics will experience kidney problems) and hypertension. The list also includes other cardiovascular disease, congenital disease, obstructions (like kidney stones and prostate enlargement), infections and over-use of pain medication.

The hospital's 16 Fresenius 2008K machines are worth $32,000 each, and each has a life span of seven to 10 years. Twelve are in service at any one time, each uniquely programmed for each individual patient.

"Our team is unique in that the level of our autonomy is quite high," Ms. Fair said.

The team consists of a dedicated and specialized group of nurses - "the best team I have ever worked with," Ms. Fair declared - plus specially trained attendants and clerks, with a Peterborough nephrologist visiting twice a month. The team is also enriched by a multidisciplinary crew that includes social workers, dietitians, technologists and pharmacists.

The team has really come through for neighboring dialysis patients, such as several times when Peterborough had more procedures than it could handle and last year during the fire at Lakeridge hospital. In a 48-hour period, she said, Northumberland Hills took 30 Lakeridge patients and performed 42 extra treatments.

Only a few patients fit the criteria to be put on a waiting list for transplants, she said, yielding the floor to an expert in that department. Boosted by a step-stool to see over the lectern, helping to adjust the microphone expertly, 11-year-old Sarah Marshall briefly shared her story.

The Grade 5 student at Terry Fox Public School in Cobourg holds the Guiness Book of World Records entry for youngest multi-organ transplant recipient in the world.

"I wear this green ribbon, as it is the symbol for giving the gift of life," she said of the small pin on her brown sweater. "This is very important to me, as I am one of the lucky people who received that gift.

"The number of students in my school is almost the same number of people in Ontario waiting for a liver transplant."

Born five weeks early at four pounds 12 ounces, she took her time in pronouncing the medical condition that threatened her life and confined her to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. With only a few days' life expectancy left at the age of five months 24 days, she transferred to the London children's hospital for the transplant of a stomach, pancreas, liver and bowel.

"It was the first pediatric multi-organ transplant in Canada, and I am the youngest in the world for that," Sarah said.

She made her first trip home at the age of 10 months.

"Although I had some challenges along the way, I am very lucky," Sarah told the appreciative audience. "I have had the chance to help organizations like the Children's Miracle Network, which helps raise money for all the children's hospitals across Canada and the U.S. I have also got to help with teaching people about organ donations because, without organ donations, people like me would not have a second chance at life."

Sarah and her mother Cindy brought along a supply of organ-donor cards and applications for an organ-donor sticker to affix to the red-and-white health cards some citizens still have.

Mrs. Marshall also expressed gratification that 240 secondary schools across the province (including three in the local area) will have an organ-donation curriculum in the fall.

"It's aimed at Grade 11 and 12, because that's where they felt students would be most comfortable with the topic and I speaking with their families," she explained.

That last part is so important, she added, because the next-of-kin always have final say over whether organ donations will be allowed. Therefore, it is vital to let your family members know your wishes and ask that they honour them.

"Even if you have a signed card, if your family is not comfortable with the topic, it's not going to happen," Mrs. Marshall said.

Age is not a factor, she stated. The oldest known donor for a tissue transplant was 102 - a 90-year-old was the oldest known organ donor. "Not all transplants work," she allowed. "But even for families I know who have gained five, six, seven years, it really does make a difference."

Hospital president and chief executive officer Joan Ross said that organs are harvested by hospitals that specialize in the procedure, and that eyes are harvested locally.

Committee member Shirley Johnson recalled how Dr. Bob Scott used to go into seniors' homes after a death to encourage eye donation.

"It meant sight for so many people who would not have had the operation," Ms. Johnston said. "It doesn't matter what age you are."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Please, buy my kidney to secure her future

One kidney for sale … Craig Gill and his two-year-old daughter Petal, the reason he is willing to sell an organ, on Bondi Beach (Australia) yesterday.
Photo: Peter Rae

An Australian physician's suggestion that the government pay $50,000 to living donors for expenses and lost wages was shot down in a hurry by critics who came back with their own suggestion of paying up to $6,000 for lost wages. In Ontario, Canada where I live the Provincial Government has recently initiated a Program for Reimbursing Expenses of Living Organ Donors (PRELOD). You can read more about this at Trillium Gift of Life Network.

The costs associated with being a living donor can be prohibitive and this is the main reason many are reluctant to become a living donor. I personally know a living liver donor whose costs for expenses and lost wages came to $25,000.

From The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia:

CRAIG GILL took "less than 30 seconds" to decide that he would sell his kidney to finance ballet lessons and a home deposit for his two-year-old daughter, Petal.

After reading yesterday's Herald on the call by a Canberra specialist to legalise the sale of kidneys in Australia, Mr Gill, 44, called the paper, seeking to place an advertisement for one of his kidneys for $50,000.

"My daughter is my future and I am willing to put my hand up and sell an organ to someone to help her," he said. "A cheque for $50,000 would help her to avoid Sydney's rental crisis when she's older. I don't want my girl out on the street fighting with hundreds of others for somewhere to live.

"If a relative needed a kidney from me, I'd give it to them without a second thought, but when it comes to strangers, I want to be well compensated for it because my priority is my daughter and her future. And I would say most of my friends feel the way I do - we'd do anything to help our kids get a start in life."

The federal minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, ruled out legalising organ sales. And the medical director of Kidney Health Australia, Tim Mathew, said cash for kidneys would be exploitative and unethical, and would never win community support. However, he said giving donors up to $6000 for loss of earnings after surgery should be considered - an idea backed by the Australian Medical Association last night.

"I know there are people out there who desperately need body parts, but for me, commercial trading in organs is unfair, inequitable and goes against everything I believe the Australian culture and Australian health system to be," Dr Mathew said. "I do believe, though, that people should be compensated for the time and effort that goes into donating a kidney."

The suggestion of compensation surprised Gavin Carney, the nephrologist campaigning for commercial kidney trading to help patients who wait years for transplants or even travel to Third World countries to buy organs.

"[Kidney Health Australia] was not supportive of my plan yesterday, but today they want to give donors money," Dr Carney said. "It just proves my point that it is becoming blindingly obvious that we need to put a dollar mark on organ donations to solve this problem. Most people, even though they want to help others, cannot afford to take six weeks off work. Six thousand dollars or $50,000 - it's all a payment and that's what we need to increase organ donation in this country."

But Ms Roxon said: "We know this really could put people at risk of being exploited and we are not going to let this happen."

She said urgent action was needed to boost organ donations. After years of attempts to increase organ donation, numbers have declined in recent years. There were 202 in 2006 but only 198 last year.

A national clinical taskforce has said it should be possible to increase donations by 370 a year. It suggested a campaign to dispel myths about donation, nationally accepted methods to identify potential donors in emergency departments and intensive care units, and a national donation and transplantation authority.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Ricky Byington's Double lung Transplant Benefit

If you live in the United States, need an organ transplant and don't have health insurance coverage, you can expect to be faced with huge medical costs such as Ricky's half-million dollars for a lung transplant. I had my lung transplant in Canada at Toronto General Hospital, and other than incidental expenses for travel, hotels and meals, etc. my entire medical bill for doctors, hospitals and drugs was covered by the government health care plan.

From OnMilwaukee.com in Wisconsin:

Breathing Comes at a High Price for Young Survivor;
Double Lung Transplant to Cost 29 year old $543,900

WIND LAKE, WI. – Ricky Byington will not be doing the usual celebrating on his 30th birthday. His 30th birthday will be more of a real celebration – truly a birthday of a lifetime.

Ricky Byington has suffered from the terminal disease, Cystic Fibrosis (CF), since birth with limited chance of survival. People with CF have thick mucus which clogs their lungs causing their progressive destruction. At the young age of 12 years old, Ricky’s disease progressed rapidly. He developed what doctors would call a barrel chest due to constant heavy breathing and coughing, which lead to a barrage of jokes and laughs from schoolmates.

At this point Ricky contemplated committing suicide because he could not handle the extreme hardship of the disease and the bullying from other children. Throughout his short life, he has undergone several surgeries, spent months in the hospital, and has endured constant pain and shortness of breath.

Now 29 years-old, Ricky’s lung capacity is currently measuring only 27%. A double edged sword – a cystic fibrosis victim must deteriorate to 30% lung capacity or below to be eligible for a lung transplant.

In Ricky’s situation, he needs two lungs – a double lung transplant in order to survive at a price tag of an estimated $543,900. On May 18, Ricky’s 30th birthday, friends, family, caregivers and more, will be hosting a fundraiser to help raise the more than half-million dollars that he will need to have a double lung transplant.

Volleyball, silent auction, food, beverages and fun will round out the evening all in an effort to raise funds for Ricky. Live music to be performed by three-time WAMI winners, The Toys, Left on Sunset and DJ Speed of Sound. The fundraiser will kick-off at 2 p.m. at Kelly’s Bleacher’s II at 7805 S. Loomis Road in Wind Lake. The cost to enter is $5.00 with all of the proceeds going towards Ricky’s lifesaving surgery.

“He is such an inspiration to all of us. He has endured what most of us will never be able to fathom, never being able to catch his breath” said Fred Barry, his second dad.To donate items for the silent auction or to volunteer, please call Tanya Kreil (414) 243-3405. You can make a monetary donation to Ricky’s cause at any Tri-City National Bank. Please make checks payable to the ‘Ricky Byington Lung transplant fund'. By mail, send to:
TRI-CITY NATIONAL BANK
12745 West Capitol Drive
Brookfield, WI 53005
Phone: (262) 783-0044.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Lung transplant anniversary celebrated in Iowa

Diana Bauman, 57, eats cake with her brother-in-law, Zeke Sanders, as her husband, Roger Bauman, plays with their grandchild, Seth Bauman, 1, on Thursday during a reception honoring the one-year anniversary of Diana Bauman's lung transplant at University Hospitals.
Photo: Press-Citizen / Matthew Holst

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

'It's been wonderful'
Diana Bauman couldn't even go to her mailbox without feeling like she'd just run a marathon.

The 57-year-old Grinnell resident had been dealing with lung problems for 10 years. Five of those were spent with an oxygen machine at her side.

"I couldn't go anywhere without it," she said.

Eventually, her condition deteriorated to the point where a doctor in Grinnell told her she needed a lung transplant. The closest place to get one was in St. Louis, he told her.

Bauman said she refused to leave her family during the lengthy recovery process. Then the doctor told her about an up-and-coming program at University Hospitals, the only one in Iowa.

She went and was the first patient to get a lung transplant at University Hospitals in 12 years. Both of her lungs were replaced with donor organs.

"I was scared to death," she said. "I knew I was the first, but I was glad I was."

On Thursday, Bauman came to University Hospitals for her one-year checkup -- and was surprised with cake and punch by hospital staff and a dozen family members.

"I was totally surprised," she said.

University Hospitals has performed eight lung transplants since re-opening its program a year ago, said Jana Beaver, a lung transplant coordinator who worked with Bauman.

Beaver said patients who might be candidates for a transplant go through numerous tests to make sure they are healthy enough to undergo the surgery, but sick enough that, without the transplant, they'd soon die.

The surgery is risky, said Julia Klesney-Tait, medical director of the lung transplant program. Nationally, one-year survival rates for lung transplant patients are 85 percent. The five-year survival rates are 52 percent.

"The surgery itself comes with a significant mortality risk," she said.

University Hospitals performed lung transplants from 1988 to 1996 but had to stop after a surgeon left the hospital, Klesney-Tait said.

Because the transplant requires a lot of specialized care, she said the United Network for Organ Sharing requires a team of people, including surgeons, nurses and pharmacists, to keep a center open. Without one, a hospital's lung transplant center closes, Klesney-Tait said.

When Bauman was looking for a place to get her transplant, University Hospitals recruited the surgeon it needed to open a lung transplant program, Kalpaj Parekh.

"We're very excited to have the program," Klesney-Tait said. "It's very rewarding."

Bauman said after her surgery she had to learn to breathe again without the help of an oxygen machine. But through the past year, she said her health has improved greatly. She's taken trips to Florida and Wisconsin.

"I can get out and mow the yard, I can play with my grandkids -- it's been wonderful," Bauman said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Bluebirds back organ donation

It looks like the organ donor registration program in the UK is doing quite well, with more than 15 million pledged to give the gift of life.

From News Wales:

Cardiff City FC is kick off a life-saving campaign alongside every other club in the Football League at their final home game of the season by urging supporters to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

The appeal coincides with the 40th anniversary of the UK's first heart transplant which took place on May 3, 1968.

The aim is to boost the number of people signing up to the register, a confidential database of over 15.2 million people pledged to help give the gift of life to others after their own death.

The Welsh Assembly Government is considering introducing a scheme of presumed organ donation.

Last year in the UK over 3,200 people received an organ transplant, but the number of people on the transplant waiting list rose to over 9,000. Sadly, around 1,000 people die each year needing a transplant. If more people registered as organ donors more lives could be saved.

You may already have an organ donorcard. However it can get lost or damaged. To make sure people know your wishes are you need to join the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell your friends and family about your decision.

This is your chance to join and maybe save a life one day. Joining the register is easy. Just text 'GIVE' to 84118*, or visit UK Transplant or call the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Three Million Californians Say 'Yes!' to Organ and Tissue Donation

It's wonderful to see that more and more North Americans are registering to become organ donors and pledging to save and heal lives. To register in your area please go to the links following the article.

Thousands Saved and Healed by Registered Organ and Tissue Donors

From The Earth Times:

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Families of organ and tissue donors joined organ transplant recipients at the State Capitol on April 30 to formally thank lawmakers, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the three million Californians who have pledged to save and heal lives by signing up on the state-authorized Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with Assemblywoman Sharon Runner (R - Lancaster) joined fellow legislators, DMV representatives, and allied health professionals to officially commemorate April's DMV/Donate Life California Month.

"The benefits of organ and tissue donation are simply staggering," Governor Schwarzenegger said. "I am proud of the 3 million Californians who have signed up to be organ and tissue donors. Each person who becomes a donor can save the lives of eight people and dramatically improve the lives of 50 people. It truly is the gift of life."

The number of individuals who wait for a life saving transplant continues to increase on a daily basis. California has the highest proportion of people on the national organ transplant waiting list, with about 20 percent of the nearly 100,000 candidates awaiting a life-saving transplant.

"Californians have an extraordinary opportunity to help save lives and ensure their decision to do so is honored," Runner said. Runner authored Assembly Concurrent Resolution 125, a resolution recognizing April as DMV/Donate Life California Month to encourage Californians to sign up with the Donate Life California Registry.

"Each of us has the power to save up to eight lives as an organ donor and heal up to 50 others as a tissue donor by restoring sight, mobility, and healing burns," Runner added. "I strongly encourage every Californian to sign up with the registry."

Altogether, registered organ and tissue donors saved or healed more than 3,000 lives in 2007. Anyone can sign up on the Donate Life California Registry, and unlike blood donation, there are few automatic rule-outs.

"We are pleased that in the last year, the Donate Life California Registry has shown its value as a tool to save and heal lives," Bryan Stewart, President of Donate Life California, said. "With one million designated donors signing up every eight months, the life-saving impact of the registry is on an upward trajectory."

The success of the Donate Life California Registry owes much to its partnership with the Department of Motor Vehicles. "Today we celebrate three million Californians who have signed up to become organ and tissue donors," DMV Director George Valverde said. "Those 'pink dots' are more than mere symbols; they have taken on the power of advanced directives for organ and tissue donation for any California motorist who proudly chooses to display them."

The vast majority of the registry's three million designated donors have signed up since the DMV began enrolling designated donors in July 2006. Due to the five year license renewal cycle, two-thirds of California drivers have not yet had the opportunity to check 'yes' when they renew their license, and state lawmakers urge individuals to do so.

In all cases in which an eligible donor has not registered with Donate Life California, the donation decision falls on families, who consent to donation in about 60% of cases. When families are unsure of what their loved one wanted, after sometimes anguishing deliberation, they often decline to donate. Thus, documenting one's decision on the registry is a gift both to one's family and to potential recipients.

"The registry's core promise - to save lives by ensuring individuals' wishes to donate are honored - is accomplishing its life-saving mission," Stewart said.

Donate Life California is a nonprofit, state-authorized organ and tissue donor registry, administered by California's four nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organizations, each responsible for facilitating the donation process in the state: California Transplant Donor Network, Golden State Donor Services, Lifesharing and OneLegacy. For more information, please visit dmv.ca.gov or Donate Life California or in Spanish.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation

Manilla Department of Health prohibits kidney transplants to foreigners

From the Manilla Bulletin:

The Department of Health (DoH) has issued a total ban on foreign kidney transplantation in the country effectively cutting off foreigners’ access to organs from Filipino donors.

"This directive comes at a time when the Philippine government faces the ethical and moral imperative to protect Filipinos, particularly the poor, from the black market sale of internal organs," Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said in a statement yesterday.

The health chief said this shift in the kidney transplantation policy was initiated by President Arroyo following the recommendation from the World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO) to strengthen the living-related organ donation and cadaveric donation programs.

The DoH is set to release the amendment to the recently issued Administrative Order 0004 or the Revised Policy on Kidney Transplantation from Living Non-related Organ Donor and its implementing structures on Monday.

The amendment will nullify the policy for foreign patients supposedly allowing them to receive organ donations from Filipino donors only after approval by the Philippine Network for Organ Donation and Transplantation (Phil NETDAT).

"In the past few years, there has been a reported increase in the number of kidney transplants done on foreign patients with kidneys coming from Filipino living non-related donors, most them come from p