Sunday, December 30, 2007

Transplant Headlines

Selected headlines

Cheerleader needs double-lung transplant


I'm posting the complete article here with the hopes that it will help the family's efforts to raise the $50,000 still needed for Brieanna's life-saving transplant.

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
A 13-year-old Coral Springs Chargers youth football cheerleader is fighting for her life.

Brieanna Yowell, who cheered for the Coral Springs Unlimited football team this past season in the American Youth Football League, needs a double lung transplant.

Brieanna has cystic fibrosis, a congenital disease, and has a life expectancy of slightly more than 30 years. There is no cure.

Unlike many girls her age, Brieanna cannot always participate in the strenuous activities that the rest of her cheer team members accept as routine.

"Living with cystic fibrosis is pretty tough, with all the treatments, hospitalizations, medications, and not being able to breathe normally," Brieanna said. "Some people would just give up, but I never quit, because I have dreams and goals just like other teenagers.

"One of my goals is to be able to cheer again, because when I cheer I forget about the pain and struggling I have to deal with in my life," Brieanna said. "I always feel like a different person when I cheer. Instead of the sick Brieanna, I feel like the strong Brieanna who can stand up to anything."

After years of treatment and suffering, in October 2007, Brieanna's doctors recommended the double lung transplant, which would take place at Shands Children's Hospital, an affiliate of the University of Florida in Gainesville. Brieanna was placed on the transplant list Oct. 30. Generally, it takes six months to a year on the list to receive a transplant. The cost can often exceed $500,000 for both the operation and the post-operative care. The family needs to raise $50,000. Friends of Brieanna, with the assistance of the Children's Organ Transplant Association (COTA), have come together to assist Brieanna and her family.

If a transplant becomes available for Brieanna, the surgery will be performed whether the total amount has been raised or not.

If you would like to contribute to help cover the expenses, you may do so in the following ways:

Contribute online by visiting Brieanna's Web site at cotaforbrieannay.com, and then clicking on to donate.

Contribute at any Bank Of America branch by making a deposit into an account for Brieanna Yowell. All checks should be made payable to COTA, and in the memo line of the check write in Brieanna Yowell.

For information, call 954-815-6901 or 754-245-5220.

Transplant unit given the go-ahead
From IC Wales:

A SPECIALIST kidney transplant unit for Wales’ biggest hospital has been given the go-ahead.

Plans for the Renal Transplant Centre at the University Hospital of Wales, Heath, Cardiff, have received the backing of various health bodies and will lead to a 21-bed, £4.27m department.

Experts believe demand for kidney transplants in the Welsh capital could soar by up to 15 per cent a year and the existing unit would be unable cope.

New treatments mean more and more victims will be eligible for transplants and the new unit could be up and running in two years.

Floors two and three of a seven-storey tower block will house the new department, which medics believe could perform 160 operations a year by 2012. Read the full article.

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