Transplant Headlines

Selected organ donation and transplant headlines

Two-year-old Boy Waits for Intestinal Transplant
India-West posts this story about a couple waiting for their son to receive a life-saving transplant of a lower intestine and liver.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — It’s a cool recent Diwali afternoon, and many Indian Americans are caught up in the fever of the holiday — cooking, dressing in their best finery, and getting ready to celebrate with family and friends.

Sanjay Kalra and his wife, Shikha, are in no mood to celebrate.

The couple are pressed close to a hospital bed in Stanford Medical Center’s pediatric intensive care unit, gazing down at their two-and-a-half year-old son, Arnav.

Arnav lies nearly stationary in his bed, a feeding tube running from his nose to a large machine; while half a dozen other machines beep softly in the silence.

His huge brown eyes take in his surroundings with a look of resignation, but though Arnav is just a toddler, he radiates a sense of deep patience, and even a Buddha-like reassurance, for his anxious parents.

One chocolatey, chubby arm — the skin smooth as silk — rests on a pillow, and his little hands are encased in baby-size socks, to prevent him from pulling out the tubes, explains Shikha.

Arnav is waiting for a miracle — a rare transplant of a lower intestine and liver — and though he is at the top of a waiting list, his parents know there is little they can do but pray and wait. Read the full story.

Hannah Friedman -- Be an organ donor? Check
Hannah Friedman is a high school student who didn't know much about organ donation when she came to the check-box on her driver's license application. But she decided to find out as much information as she could and I encourage you to read her heartwarming story in the Rochester, Minnesota Post-Bulletin.

Bowie resident grateful for second chance at life
Gazette.net in Maryland posts a wonderful story about Lorma Sealey, 41, a heart transplant recipient who traveled to New York last month to appear on ‘‘The Montel Williams Show” to meet her donor family of Matthew Zaragoza-VanGelderen who died of a brain injury while playing high school football in 2005. Read the full story.