Friday, February 29, 2008

Transplantation boosts survival rates for young kidney failure patients

Press release from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

February 28, 2008—More young people in Canada diagnosed with kidney failure are surviving, and one key explanation is an increase in the use of kidney transplantation in young patients. This finding comes from the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s (CIHI) Treatment of End-Stage Organ Failure in Canada, 1996 to 2005,(2007 Annual Report),a new report that includes, for the first time, a special chapter focusing on pediatric patients—those aged 19 and under—diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

While the number of young Canadians newly diagnosed with ESRD remained fairly stable each year from 1981 to 2005 (low of 66, high of 103), survival rates have improved considerably since 1981 primarily due to more kidney transplantation in young patients. The number of young people living with ESRD increased by 169% between 1981 and 2005 (550).

“A diagnosis of kidney failure in early life can have far-reaching, life-long consequences,” says Margaret Keresteci, Manager of Clinical Registries at CIHI. “The good news is that children with kidney failure are living longer, now that transplantation has become the treatment of choice for these patients.”

The vast majority of young patients with kidney failure are living with a kidney transplant, with the number increasing from just over 44% in 1981 to 77% in 2005. Conversely, over this period, the proportion of children treated with dialysis decreased from 56% in 1981 to 22% in 2005. For those treated in the decade between 1991 and 2000, five-year survival rates for young ESRD patients living with a kidney transplant were considerably higher (96%) than for those on dialysis (84%).

“We consider the increase in transplantation, and the corresponding decline in dialysis treatment, a step in the right direction for the quality of life for young kidney patients,” says Dr. M. Clermont, pediatric nephrologist at Montreal's St-Justine Hospital. “Kidney failure itself, coupled with dialysis treatment, can be devastating to children with ESRD and their families, in terms of physical development, quality and longevity of life.” Read the full report which includes stats for other organs.

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Doctor testifies in failed organ transplant case; says high dosage for patient unnecessary

Laura Lubarsky is the first person to testify in the preliminary hearing for the San Francisco transplant surgeon

From SanLuisObispo.com in California:
Ruben Navarro showed no signs of pain the night he was removed from a ventilator, the disabled man’s last attending physician testified Wednesday, and in her opinion did not need large amounts of painkillers and sedatives ordered by a San Francisco organ transplant surgeon.

Laura Lubarsky, a pulmonologist who has practiced for 12 years with Central Coast Chest Consultants, was the first witness to testify in Hootan Roozrokh’s preliminary hearing, which began Wednesday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.

Prosecutors charged Roozrokh in July with three felonies, alleging he attempted to hasten the death of the potential organ donor by ordering a nurse to give excessive amounts of medications. They also accused Roozrokh of injecting Betadine, a topical antiseptic, into Navarro’s feeding tube.

Roozrokh is charged with dependent adult abuse, unlawful prescribing of a controlled substance and administering a harmful substance, Betadine.

The 34-year-old pleaded not guilty. If convicted of all charges, he could face up to eight years in prison and a $20,000 fine. REad the full story.

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Teens tackle organ donation

St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School student Julie Perrotta, 16, holds a torch during a walk from city hall to her school, Wednesday, to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation. Photo by Paul Chivers.

St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School student Julie Perrotta, 16, holds a torch during a walk from city hall to her school, Wednesday, to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation. Photo by Paul Chivers.

From the North Bay Nugget in Ontario, Canada:
Driving is a rite of passage for teenagers, although there's more at stake than just earning their licence.

My mom told me all about it and that it was a good thing to do . . . I wanted to help as many people as I could, said Samantha Domanico, 16, explaining she had a classmate in mind when she signed her organ donor card.

Escorted by North Bay Police, about 40 students from St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic Secondary School surrounded Julie Perrotta, 16, in the biting -28 C/-18.4 F winds as she carried a torch from city hall to the school Wednesday as part of a national campaign to enlighten others her age about organ and tissue donation.

Perrotta was only seven years old when she fell ill after a family vacation in Florida and was admitted toToronto's Hospital for Sick Children diagnosed with aplastic anemia when bone marrow can't produce enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Eventually things got a little worse and I had to receive a bone marrow transplant, she said, encouraging others to put themselves on the donor registry to improve the odds of finding a match.

Perrotta was chosen to bear the torch in a campaign that added North Bay to a roster of Canadian cities to promote organ and tissue donation.

She was one of the lucky ones, going from 100 pills to none and so far getting a clean bill of health at her annual checkups.

And she plans to return the favour. I know for sure that when I'm older I'm definitely going to donate, just because I know a lot of people that have lost their lives (by) not being able to receive an organ, she said.

It's music to George Marcello's ears. That message is going to be loud and clear. Students have the power to do a lot of things that can affect the community, he said.

Marcello, 52, has a condition that hardens his arteries, and he was saved by two liver transplants, the earliest in 1997.

That's when the Toronto man started his charity Step by Step Organ Transplant Association that's in the middle of its sixth cross-country Torch of Life campaign on behalf of more than 4,000 Canadians who are currently waiting for a transplant.

Marcello said he supports a presumed consent system similar to what's used in Spain which leaves it up to people to register with the province if they don't want to donate their organs.

He also acknowledged there is a need for public education.

The province commissioned a panel of citizens to study the issue, and they released a report last year that found presumed consent makes most people uncomfortable and instead encouraged Ontario to recruit live donors to meet demand.

It suggested compensation for lost wages, travel and other expenses for people who donate a kidney or part of a liver.

Closer to home, a lot of the teens showed support for their classmate's campaign to get them thinking about organ and tissue donations.

I figure if I'm going to be dead, I won't need them, said Vanessa Tignanelli, 18.

I might as well help keep someone else alive.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

24-year-old Cystic Fibrosis patient tackles lifelong illness with determination

This another story of a Cystic Fibrosis patient who was determined to live through her illness by finishing college, getting a job and gettting married. But the severity of her disease meant a lung transplant and she approached that with the same determination.

Brad Barker says goodbye to his wife, Heidi Karn Barker, Dec. 6 before heading to work at Kansas University. Meanwhile, she watied fo her dad, Geroge Karn, to laod some of her belongings for the move to St. Louis, where she waited for a double lung transplant. Photo by Mike Yoder

Brad Barker says goodbye to his wife, Heidi Karn Barker, Dec. 6 before heading to work at Kansas University. Meanwhile, she watied fo her dad, Geroge Karn, to laod some of her belongings for the move to St. Louis, where she waited for a double lung transplant. Photo by Mike Yoder

From the Tonganoxie Mirror in Kansas:
St. Louis — Donning a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt, blue sweatpants and pale pink house boots, 24-year-old Heidi Karn Barker sits in a quiet, one-bedroom apartment across from Barnes-Jewish Hospital where three weeks earlier she had a double lung transplant.

While Heidi no longer sports what she called an oxygen mustache, it’s easy to see that the surgery has taken its toll. She’s sore, tired and nauseated. An e-mail from her husband, Brad Barker, sparks a smile during the gray afternoon.

Her mother, Tracie Karn, of McLouth, and Brad take turns staying with Heidi about every two weeks. This week, it’s mom’s turn.

“It’s difficult just seeing her in discomfort after the surgery and seeing her having to put her life aside in Lawrence and just seeing how much she misses Brad,” Tracie said. “Just what she has been through physically, I can’t even imagine.”

But you won’t hear Heidi complain. She simply focuses on getting better and talks about the positives in her life: the donation, the ability to breathe, family and friends. If she can keep a Popsicle down, she’s grateful.

Heidi was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age 18 months. Medications, tests, doctors and hospitals have been part of her life since she can remember. The life expectancy for those with the disease has grown to about 40 years. In 1950, it was less than 5 years.

“Lung failure is the cause of death in around 90 percent of patients,” said Dr. Philip Black, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Those with cystic fibrosis produce a thick mucus that clogs up ducts in the lungs and in the pancreas. So, they get a lot of lung congestion, infections and disease.

Most, like Heidi, also have trouble digesting and absorbing foods.

“She’s more severely ill than the average person her age,” Black said. “She had a pretty severe case of it. In essence, all of them are severe cases because they shorten life, but on a scale of severity, her case was toward the higher end.”

But Heidi tried not to let it slow her down.

“She’s a very remarkable lady in that in spite of a fairly severe illness, she kept herself on track to finish college and had a job and got married and went ahead and pursued things that became available to her with a lot of courage,” Black said.

According to family and friends, she has shown that same courage throughout the lung transplant process.

“She is just amazingly strong and brave and she was the most composed throughout all of this compared to anybody else in our family,” Brad said. “She was just really focused. It was never a question of how would she do; it was just a matter of how soon can we get it done.” Read the rest of Heidi's story about getting "the call" and her subsequent successful double-lung transplant.

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The freedom to breathe: Cystic fibrosis and lung transplants

Cystic fibrosis left James Cooper fighting for his life. Then doctors told him that a double lung transplant might offer him a second chance

This is a great personal story of a 26-year-old Cystic Fibrosis patient's transformation from a life of virtually no hope and despair to to one of hope and thanks for a "second chance" at life by being given a double-lung transplant. As with so many other organ transplant recipients I know, James is now a strong advocate for organ donation awareness.

From The Independent in the UK:

This morning I took a 10-minute stroll, making my way up the road to a local café for breakfast at a brisk pace. Not a particularly remarkable feat for most people. But for me, it is still a novelty, and one which gives me intense pleasure. Every time I walk further than my front door I silently thank a dead man who I never met and whose name I don't know. I'm 26 years old and the only reason I'll be able to celebrate 27 is because four months ago I had a double lung transplant. I have cystic fibrosis and, for almost as long as I can remember, I've had a fairly mature sounding smoker's type cough.

Cystic fibrosis hasn't been the main occupation of my life. Apart from the occasional hospital visit and a wheeze that would make Jimmy Savile proud, my life has been great. It's only in the past few years that CF started to make its presence felt. Early last year, I caught a cold and, with grim predictability, it travelled south to my lungs. Feeling distinctly ropey, I went to stay with my parents for a two-week course of intravenous antibiotics and to indulge in copious amounts of my mum's cooking. But at the end of the fortnight, there was no improvement. A high temperature and a cough forced me to decamp to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, where I was admitted to intensive care. It was only then that I realised how bad things were.

After five days in intensive care, things stabilised enough for me to be transferred to the respiratory ward. Over the next seven weeks, I continued to improve. But I was told by the consultant that my health would never recover to what it was before I became ill.

My consultant offered to find out whether I would be eligible for a double lung transplant. I wasn't sure about the whole transplant thing, but an appointment was made at Harefield Hospital in June and I was told I could go home. An oxygen compressor was set up in the house, piping O2 to four different rooms. Read the rest of Jame's story as he describes the excitement of getting "the call" and his operation and recovery.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Appeal from the heart

Zoe Wood
Zoe Wood has a smile that penetrates deep into people's hearts, and hopefully wallets.

From the Herald Sun in Australia:
Liver transplant recipient Zoe Wood, 2, is the face of this year's Good Friday Appeal, which aims to raise even more than last year's $11.8 million.

And the honour couldn't come at a better time for Zoe and her parents, Eddie and Joanna Wood, of Mt Martha, who call last year the worst of the family's life.

"Zoe really deserves some time in the limelight after what she's been through,' Mr Wood said.

Zoe was diagnosed with a liver tumour in late 2006 and by the middle of last year, her parents and three siblings learned a transplant was her only option.

After months of chemotherapy, a frightening four-month wait ended in September when a liver from a donor became available.

Zoe is now free of cancer. For the complete story and information on how to donate to the campaign click here.

Have a heart: Girl receives transplant, wish granted

This is wonderful story about a young heart transplant recipient who also received the "gift" of her wish to take her family to Hawaii.

From the Alemeda Times-Star in California:

HAYWARD — With a new heart and a new lease on life, Hayward resident Natalie Reyes, 15, took a week off school to live it up in Hawaii, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

A year ago, Natalie and her family weren't sure how much longer she had to live — and snorkeling in Hawaii was the last thing on their minds.

Last spring, Natalie regularly felt fatigued. At a checkup in April, her doctor said she might have asthma, and he also referred her to a cardiologist for a heart murmur.

Then one day when Natalie came home from school, she thought her feet looked a little funny. "I just noticed that my feet looked really fat," she said. "They were really big and poofy. Later on, I showed my parents. For some reason, my dad knew something was wrong."

Her father, Luis Reyes, saw her swollen feet and legs and took her to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Hayward, where she was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a serious heart condition in which the heart muscle weakens and struggles to pump blood.

"The doctor said there was no cure and that she would require a heart transplant," Luis Reyes said.

Natalie spent stints at Kaiser in Hayward and Santa Clara as her condition deteriorated.

"Things progressed rapidly," Luis Reyes said. Weight loss, fluid buildup in her body and the constant medication were difficult to witness, he said.

The swelling became so uncomfortable that Natalie had to be propped up with three pillows so she could sleep, Luis Reyes explained.
Breathing and walking became difficult, Natalie said.

On July 1, Natalie was sitting on her living room couch watching her brother Jerome, 10, playing video games with a friend when the phone rang.

Her father answered and got nervous, Natalie recalled. "We got in the car, and he was kind of excited and kind of tense," she said.

Natalie was taken to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, where the next morning she was given a new heart. She recovered from the operation at the Ronald McDonald House in Palo Alto, and 21/2 months after receiving her new heart, she was back in school in Hayward.

The Reyeses only know that the heart donor was a girl in her teens.

Natalie wrote the donor's family a thank-you letter. "I told them I'm really thankful for what they did and how much I appreciate it," Natalie said.

While she was at the hospital, a social worker forwarded Natalie's name to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. "Natalie's physician confirmed that her medical condition did indeed meet our criteria," Make-A-Wish spokeswoman Elaine Kauffman said.

Natalie was granted one wish.

"Wishes can be anything from a puppy to a trip to the Super Bowl," Kauffman said. "We grant whatever the child wishes for, within reason.

"That means no such wishes as car insurance for life, which parents might like, but plenty of trips to Disneyland, new computers and shopping sprees."

Natalie's wish was to take her family back to Hawaii, where she had been once before and had a great time. So how was her trip the second time around?

"It was awesome," she said. "It was relaxing, and I did a lot of things I didn't think I could do."


Natalie looked into an active volcano, explored the inside of a lava tube, went snorkeling, took a helicopter ride, went to a luau and did a lot of shopping. "I loved it," she said.

She returned from her week on the big island of Hawaii on Saturday and is now back in school.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation funds wishes from in-kind gifts and services; financial contributions from individuals, corporations, clubs and other groups; special events, and car donations, according to the foundation's Web site.

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Saturday, February 23, 2008

Transplant recipient recovering well, feeling grateful for another chance

Amelia Wenzel, 26, is recovering nicely following a lung transplant Feb. 13. The former West Beaverton resident is out of the hospital and working hard to regain strength and enjoy life as a new wife. Photo by Sherri Diteman / Sherri Diteman Photography.

From the Beaverton Valley Times in Oregon:
Amelia Wenzel is out of the hospital and on the road to recovery following a second life-saving lung transplant last week.

“I feel great,” the former West Beaverton woman said Monday. “It’s pretty incredible how much better I feel.

“I can breathe again. I can definitely notice the incredible difference with my new lung.”

Amelia was released Sunday afternoon from Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., after a surgical team completed a successful, three-hour lung transplant Feb. 13 on the 2000 Aloha High School graduate.

To be discharged, she had to be off of oxygen entirely, have any pain she was experiencing under control and be able to manage all of her own medications.

For the next five to eight weeks she will reside in a Mountain View apartment near the hospital with her husband Dan Wenzel as she undergoes intense rehabilitation to get stronger and gain weight.

Amelia will also be required to visit a clinic every week for checkups to ensure no problems develop.

“It’s nice to be out of the hospital and one more step closer to be going home to San Diego with Dan,” Amelia said. “It’s nice to be able to do normal things and not just be stuck in a hospital room.”

As Amelia focuses on her recovery and returning to a full life with her new husband, she takes comfort in the support of her close-knit family, including her mother, Norene Gonsiewski, and mother-in-law, Debbie Wenzel, who both are in California to assist Dan with errands, meals and other tasks.

It’s been an eventful week for both the Wenzel and Gonsiewski family.

It still has “not really” hit yet, Amelia admitted. “It all happened so fast this time and there’s so much to take in.

“It was pretty scary going into the surgery because of all that happened last time.”

Amelia was diagnosed on her 18th birthday on Feb. 2, 2000, with pulmonary hypertension, a rare blood vessel disorder of the lung in which pressure in the pulmonary artery rises above normal levels. Since that time her condition had progressed, making a heart and lung transplant her only hope for survival.

On May 30, 2002, Amelia received a new heart and set of lungs during a nearly seven-hour transplant surgery at Stanford University Medical Center following a three-month wait for a donor match.

She remained in the intensive care unit for a month and slept for three weeks. After strenuous rehabilitation and physical therapy, she returned to her home in August 2002.

Since then, she has enjoyed a second chance at life with the man who stood beside her every step of the way, graduating with honors from Portland State University, moving to San Diego and marrying Dan this past September.

Ten days after her wedding, the newlyweds received the devastating news that Amelia had contracted a respiratory syncytial virus that severely damaged her lungs and that she must have another lung transplant. Read the full story.

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Benefit for transplant patient set for Sunday

This is a story about a lung transplant recipient who eventually required a kidney transplant due to rejection drug induced kidney failure. I've seen cases like this time and time again and it highlights the continuing struggles of organ transplant recipients.

From the Daily Globe in Ironwood, Michigan:

IRONWOOD -- Friends will host a benefit for kidney transplant patient Gaye Trcka on Sunday at Manny's Restaurant in Ironwood.
Tickets are $6 for the meal, which runs from noon to 5 p.m. There will be a silent auction as well.

Trcka received a kidney on Jan. 11 from a cousin, Darla (Jacobson) Gratton.

Although Trcka's insurance paid transplant and hospital costs for both women, other expenses such as hotel stays and travel are not covered, according to Trcka's daughter Breanne Lombardo.

She said her mother has not been able to work in more than a year. Trcka has applied for disability, but has not been approved, her daughter said.

The kidney transplant surgeries went well, Trcka said Tuesday from home in Hurley.

"I'm feeling pretty good," she said.

She is suffering from steroid-induced diabetes, a side effect of the medications she must take to prevent her body from rejecting the donor organ.

The surgeries were done at The Transplant Center at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, in Minneapolis.

"They said it went very well," said Trcka, 47.

She was in the hospital for five days after the transplant, then stayed in a motel nearby for another five days.

Gratton, 48, a nurse, went home two days after donating a kidney.

"She felt really great," Trcka said. Then the soreness and fatigue that follows surgery set in.

"She thought it was going to be such a breeze. Everybody was telling me to tell her it's going to be a little while," Trcka said.

They find it reassuring to compare notes about their recoveries

"We felt better when we talked to each other," Trcka said.

Her cousin plans to return to work Monday.

Trcka underwent a double lung transplant a dozen years ago.

She suffered from primary pulmonary hypertension caused by a hole in her heart. The heart defect, present from birth, was discovered when she was 33.

In the years after the lung transplant, anti-rejection medications destroyed her kidneys.

Her health led her to leave her job as manager of Maurice's in 2006.

Trcka and her husband Bill have two children, Lombardo, 27, of Holmen, Wis.; and Corey Trcka, 24, of Wausau.

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Friday, February 22, 2008

Runners light the way

Kyle Frederickson and Julianne Tersigni carry the Torch of Life down Colborne Street in Orillia, Canada yesterday.

Torch of Life raises awareness of organ and tissue donation
Kyle Frederickson and Julianne Tersigni carry the Torch of Life down Colborne Street in Orillia, Canada yesterday. Photo by Courtney Whalen.

From The Orillia Packet in Ontario, Canada:
George Marcello knows how important organ donation is — and yesterday two Orillia students helped him spread the word.

Orillia District Collegiate and Vocational Institute students Julianne Tersigni and Kyle Frederickson visited city hall to light the Torch of Life before carrying it through Orillia and ending at ODCVI. The torch will pass through 100 communities across Canada to promote organ and tissue donation.

“People are dying because there’s not enough people who donate,” Kyle said after lighting the torch.

It was while in a Toronto hospital waiting for a liver transplant that Marcello became aware of the need for more donors.

“There were two halls — one that led to the morgue and one that led to the operating room — and the one that led to the morgue was getting more action,” recalled Marcello. “I thought, ‘How can this be?’”

Since receiving his transplant, he’s made it his mission to raise the number of donors in Canada. He founded the Step By Step foundation and, since 1997, has spearheaded campaigns to raise awareness.

The current campaign, the foundation’s sixth, is titled SOS4000 in reference to the more than 4,000 Canadians waiting for organ donations.

Yesterday, the two Orillia 11th-graders ended their run in the gym at ODCVI to a standing ovation from fellow students.

For more about Step by Step, go to click here.

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Thursday, February 21, 2008

'Dr Kidney' arrest exposes Indian organ traffic

This article has a good overview of the kidney trafficking situation in India that has reportedly netted the pirates over $1 billion. In addition to "transpant tourism" from other countries, wealthy Indians desperate for a life-saving kidney transplant play into the hands of this illegal racket. India has no national organ waiting list, few registered organ donors and a legal system that bars transplants from most living donors except for close family members. Poverty-stricken Indian laborers are willing to sell their kidneys with the hope of making their lives a little better.

From the Asian Times Online:

MUMBAI - The arrest of "Doctor Kidney" Amit Kumar for running a sizeable racket in live kidneys has highlighted the role that South Asia plays as the hub of an international trade in human organs.

A sophisticated but unregulated healthcare industry, a "donor pool" of desperately poor people ready to sell a kidney, and a corrupt monitoring system have combined to create a special brand of "medical tourism" in the region, especially in India and neighboring Pakistan.

While India's 1994 Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) is observed mostly in the breach, the impact of Pakistan's Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Ordinance passed in 2007 is yet to be gauged. Until last year, the organ trade was legal and flourished openly in that country.

Top transplant surgeons are collaborating with criminal organ trafficking networks to target the desperate, noted Nancy Scheper-Hughes, founding director of Organs Watch, an academic research project at the University of California, Berkeley, while speaking at the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking this month.

"The latest arrests reveal a global network larger in scale than any other one," said Dr Samiran Nundy, gastroenterological surgeon at the prestigious Sir Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi. Nundy was one of the architects of India's transplantation laws that should have put an end to paid transplants in this country. The THOA was the result of activism by a small group of conscientious medical professionals appalled by the trade.

Kumar is accused of luring poor laborers to his "hospital" in the New Delhi suburb of Gurgaon with promises of job offers or large sums of money. Typically, they were promised 300,000 rupees (US$7,500) but paid only 30,000 ($750) after the surgery, police said.

He is alleged to have conducted more than 500 transplants over an unspecified period, charging up to $50,000 dollars for each operation. Investigators say his patients came from Britain, the United States, Turkey, Nepal, Dubai, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Read the full story.

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Australian Medical Association Urges Organ Donors To Make Their Wishes Known

Although this message is directed towards Australians it applies to people everywhere...sign your donor card and tell your family of your wishes to donate your organs and tissues.

From Medical News Today:
During Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week, the AMA is urging Australians who want to be organ donors to make their intent clear by registering as a donor and talking to their family about their wishes.

AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said one of the most common reasons a potential organ donor is lost is because their family didn't know their loved one wanted to donate their organs or tissue.

"It's important to talk to family members about organ and tissue donation," Dr Capolingua said.

"Families can still provide consent to donate for people who haven't registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register.

"But if a potential donor hasn't registered and their family is not aware they want to be an organ donor, the family might refuse to donate the organs and tissue."

Dr Capolingua said Australia's organ donation rates are too low and fall well short of meeting demand.

"As of January this year, there were 1,875 people waiting for organ transplants. Many of them will have to wait up to three years."

In Australia, there are currently only 9.8 organ donors per million population.

Dr Capolingua said every new organ donor can make a difference.

"Up to ten people can receive organs and tissue from just one donor. That's ten lives that benefit because of just one person.

"Organ donation can also help reduce the financial burden on our health system. Organ transplants are far more cost effective than other forms of treatment in the long term."

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Time to spread the word about organ donation

From The Daily & Sunday Review in Towanda, Pennsylvania:

Nearly 97,000 very ill Americans are on waiting lists for organ donations but, if past is prologue, most of them will not receive what they need this year.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, about 26,000 organ transplant operations were performed nationwide in 2007. Just over 13,000 donors provided the organs to save other lives and, obviously, many individual donors provided multiple organs.

According to PennDOT, 43.5 percent of Pennsylvania’s licensed drivers have indicated, on their licenses, a willingness to be an organ donor.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Institute for Good Medicine recently conducted a survey, asking: “Since you are not currently an organ donor, have you considered becoming one?” Of respondents, 42.6 percent said they have not considered it; 37.5 percent said they have considered it but do not feel comfortable with the idea; and 19.9 percent said they plan to sign as donors but have not yet done so.

Through PennDOT, the state should make a more concerted effort, through regular licensing correspondence, to advise Pennsylvanians of the urgent need for organ donors. Information also should be made available at licensing centers, where licensees usually have to wait for at least a few minutes, and where a reminder might cause more of them to say “yes” when asked if they would be willing to be an organ donor.

Anyone interested in obtaining a donor card may do so though PennDOT’s Web site.

No one wants to think about death, or the circumstance that leads to organ donation. But early death is doubly tragic when it also entails a lost opportunity to save other lives.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Monday, February 18, 2008

Desperate for breath of life

A CAIRNS mother is awaiting a lung transplant for a rare condition she almost diagnosed herself after reading an article in a hospital waiting room.

LONG wait ... Amy Evans, pictured with Jeremy, James, Danielle, Jennifer and Thomas is battling a rare condition and waiting for a lung transplant.

LONG wait ... Amy Evans, pictured with Jeremy, James, Danielle, Jennifer and Thomas is battling a rare condition and waiting for a lung transplant.

From News.com in Australia:
When Amy Evans, 32, found herself breathless after short walks her doctor thought she had asthma, but sent her to a specialist for more tests. "They wanted to make sure they weren't looking at a blood clot," she says.

"When I was sitting in the waiting room I read a story in an old Women's Weekly about Shani Eldridge and she had a condition called LAM.

"I had my husband with me and I said 'This sounds like me, she's breathless all the time'. He said not to be silly."

Eldridge and others discussed in that article were initially misdiagnosed with emphysema despite never smoking or placing themselves in a position to risk contracting the disease.

Only after further testing were they diagnosed with the rare lung disease Lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM.

After seeing the specialist, Amy was diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease.

"I said to my doctor 'You're never going to believe this but I've read about this before'," Amy recalls.

The disease affects only women of childbearing age, and symptoms include a shortness of breath, coughing blood, chest pains and can cause the lungs to collapse.

The cause of the disease is unknown, although it is thought to be genetic.

There is no cure.

The only treatment is a lung transplant before an abnormal smooth muscle growth slowly smothers a patient's own lungs.

Amy, from Bentley Park in Cairns, says her lungs were at 50 per cent capacity when she was diagnosed two years ago, the same week Cyclone Larry pounded North Queensland.

Now they're down to 19 per cent capacity. Her right lung has collapsed and been patched up three times in three months.

She's been told she's a priority for a double lung transplant should any organs become available that match her blood type.

"The fact is that I probably won't live another 12 months without a lung transplant," she says. Read the full story.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Organ donations not nearly enough for demand: figures

From ABC News in Australia:

New figures reveal nearly 1,900 Australians are waiting for organ donations, but fewer than 200 donated their organs last year.

The figures have been revealed at the start of Organ Donation Awareness Week, which aims to encourage people to consider registering as a donor.

More than 1,300 of those waiting need a kidney, while close to 200 need a liver.

The Federal Government has taken steps to reform the organ donation system, due to the poor rate of donation.

A group of experts has put forward 51 recommendations to improve the donation rate, and a committee will oversee a range of changes from April 1.

Tony Tynan, whose son Duncan donated his skin, says people need to respect the wishes of those who register for organ donation.

"Eighty per cent renege on the deceased's wishes, and that's an appalling figure," he said.

"So we decided there and then there could be no greater gift than the gift of life, as both a way of easing the pain of losing someone, and typifying the Aussie ethic of helping out in a crisis."

Twenty-three-year-old John Prior is being kept alive by a mechanical heart while waiting for a transplant and he is urging people to consider becoming donors.

"I realise it is quite a confronting topic and sounds grim, but on the positive side, your decision could be empowering," he said.

"A cyclist recently transformed seven people's lives by simply registering.

"So don't take your organs to heaven; heaven knows we need them here."

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Saturday, February 16, 2008

TRILLIUM GIFT OF LIFE NETWORK CELEBRATES FAMILY DAY

Talk to your loved ones about your organ and tissue donation wishes

February 15, 2008 - Toronto, Ontario (Canada) - Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) is celebrating Ontario’s first Family Day on Monday February 18 and is reminding everyone to talk to their loved ones about their organ and tissue donation wishes.

“As you are spending time with your loved ones on Family Day, share your decision to give the gift of life,” said Frank Markel, President and CEO of TGLN. “It is imperative that you discuss your wishes with your family as they will be asked for final consent to donate your organs and tissues after your death. Give them a copy of your signed donor card so they can understand, support and respect your wishes in the future.”

Today, in Ontario there are 1,674 people on the waiting list.

“Family is the most important thing in life. Thanks to a caring, generous donor family our daughter Devan lives a healthy, happy life. Sign your donor card, tell your family about it and help save more lives in Ontario,” said the Cruickshanks family of Dundas.

Every 3 days, someone dies waiting for an organ transplant.

“Dave died two years ago, so we never had the opportunity to celebrate Family Day with him. So fortunate are those who do have their families intact and can enjoy some time together,” said Jocelyn White, whose husband died waiting for an organ. “Signing a donor card is encouraged but the most important step is communicating your wishes to your family. Tell them how you feel. Communicate your wishes. We know organ donation saves lives...for all families.”

“You have the power to save lives. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others through tissue donation,” said Markel.

For more details on Trillium Gift of Life Network or where you can obtain an organ donor card, please visit our website or call
416-363-4001 or toll free at: 1-800-263-2833.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Friday, February 15, 2008

Curling and/or Luncheon for Organ Donation Awareness Saturday, April 5th
Brantford, Ontario

This annual bonspiel and luncheon has become a "must attend" event over the years.

Date: Saturday, April 5, 2008

Time: Curling starts at 10:00 AM (9:00 A.M - 9:45 A.M. intro & practice)

Place: Brantford Golf & Country Club, 60 Ava Road, Brantford,Ontario

Lunch: The 2 hour lunch social event begins at noon and curling resumes at 2:00 P.M. with the awards presentations at 4:00 P.M. NON-CURLERS ARE WELCOME! If you are not a curler it is still a wonderful event to meet and socialize with others in the transplant community. I attended for lunch only last year and had a terrific time.

Open to all interested in promoting organ and tissue donation awareness. Bring your spouse, friends, family members. Put a team together!! No experience is necessary!! If not part of a team you can enter individually and will be placed on a team according to your ability.

A team consists of 4 players. The Lead, the Second, the Third or the Vice-Skip and the Skip. Every curler plays 2 stones per end. There are two six-end games.

Wear warm, comfortable clothing, rubber soled shoes and gloves.
Brooms are supplied and one of your shoes will be taped for sliding.


  • Brantford Golf & Country Club, Brantford, Ontario.
    Directions:Take Hwy 403 to Paris Rd South to Hardy Rd. Go right on Hardy and turn left on Ava Rd.

  • Cost: Curling & Lunch - $30.00 Lunch Only - $20.00

  • Registration Deadline: March 14th

  • Supported by Sun Life Financial

  • Contact Lynn by email or phone 519-752-3751 x244
    FAX: 519 752-0145
. Please note that the deadline for registration is March 14th.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Running to raise awareness;
Torch run promotes organ donation

Mayor Randy Hope and Brett DeKoning, 16, a Grade 11 student at John McGregor Secondary School, help light the torch at the beginning of the Chatham-Kent portion of a Canada-wide campaign to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation

Mayor Randy Hope and Brett DeKoning, 16, a Grade 11 student at John McGregor Secondary School, help light the torch at the beginning of the Chatham-Kent portion of a Canada-wide campaign to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. (DIANA MARTIN PHOTO)

From The Chatham Daily News in Ontario, Canada:
An Olympic-style torch was carried through Chatham Thursday to raise awareness about the need for organ and tissue donations.

Three high school students, along with Dr. Peter MacKinnon and Const. Rene Cowell of the Chatham-Kent Police Service, carried the torch from the Civic Centre to John McGregor Secondary School.

The torch, which was blessed in 2001 by the late Pope John Paul II, is being carried across Canada under the direction of George Marcello of Toronto, who launched the awareness campaign six years ago.

"When I met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican he challenged young people to get involved in the awareness campaign for organ and tissue donations,'' he said.

Marcello said there are more than 4,000 Canadians and 80,000 U.S. residents desperately waiting to receive organs to save their lives. He said hundreds of students across Canada have been selected to represent their communities by carrying the torch.

"The campaign will give students an opportunity to remember something the rest of their lives,'' he said.

Marcello, a liver recipient, established a charitable organization known as Step By Step in 1997. It is committed to promoting the importance of organ and tissue donations.

Marcello said there is no age barrier regarding donors and added that all major religions support organ and tissue donations.

"Success rates climb over 90 per cent for living organ recipients to enjoy productive lives,'' he said.

He said Ontarians can indicate their desire to become an organ and tissue donor on their health card.

"Also, let your loved ones know about your decision,'' he said.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Committee votes to mandate organ donor decision for New Jersey residents

From Newsday.com:
TRENTON, N.J. - If you ask Diane Bottino, it wasn't the hepatitis C that killed her husband last year, it was the needless waiting.

"What ultimately caused my husband to die was the shortage of organ donations," she said.

Joseph Bottino, 42, died after waiting 15 months for a liver transplant. Now his wife hopes a measure to require residents to make a decision about organ donation stops another sick person from dying the same way her husband did.

On Thursday, a New Jersey Senate committee voted to require people applying for driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards, which are available to citizens who don't drive, to state whether they want to be an organ donor. The requirement would also apply to people renewing driver's licenses.

The measure would also require high schools to teach about organ donation.

Howard M. Nathan, president and CEO of the Gift of Life Donor Program, said New Jersey would be the first state to impose such requirements.

"Our point is to encourage folks to have these conversations with their loved ones before they get to a hospital," said Senate President Codey, the bill sponsor. "It's designed to move the conversation from the emergency room to the living room." Read the full article.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Australian govt keen to boost organ donations

From TheAge.com in Australia:
The federal government plans to lift Australia's stubbornly low rate of organ donation, which is among the worst in the western world.

Parliamentary secretary Jan McLucas said Australia had one of the world's best records in transplant outcomes, but more than 1,800 people were on transplant waiting lists at any time because of a shortage of donors.

Senator McLucas said the government would begin work immediately on a range of measures to increase organ and tissue donation.

She said the final report of the National Clinical Taskforce on Organ and Tissue Donation contained 51 recommendations to improve the donation and transplantation system.

"I am acutely aware of the need to improve the system, and to do more to encourage people to register their wishes and discuss them with their families," she said in a statement.

Speaking at the launch of Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week in Canberra, organised by the advocacy group Gift of Life, she said Australia's donation rate had stayed at around 200 donors a year for many years.

"More than 90 per cent of Australians support the idea of organ and tissue donation, but we have one of the lowest rates of donation in the Western world. The challenge is to convert that support into action," she said.

People could improve the situation by correctly registering their consent on the Australian Organ Donation Register and discussing their decision with their families, she said.

She said there needed to be proper procedures in hospitals to maximise the potential for donation.

Senator McLucas will officially launch the national campaign for Organ Donor Awareness Week in Melbourne on Sunday.

Kidney Health Australia medical director Tim Mathew welcomed the task force report and urged the federal and state governments to act on its recommendations immediately.

"The additional funding required to implement these recommendations is totally justified given the cost-effectiveness of kidney transplantation and the improved survival for patients moving from life on dialysis to transplantation," Dr Mathew said.

Each week, one person dies waiting for a kidney transplant, the average wait for a kidney transplant is four years, and more than half of all organ transplants are kidney-related, according to Kidney Health Australia.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Thursday, February 14, 2008

THIS VALENTINE’S DAY TALK TO YOUR LOVED ONE’S ABOUT ORGAN DONATION

Sign an organ donor card and talk to your family about your wishes

February 12, 2008 - Toronto, Ontario - Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) is celebrating Valentine’s Day by reminding Ontarians to sign their organ donor cards and speak to their family about their wishes.

“We have a shortage of organs in Ontario. There are too many men, women and children on the organ transplant waiting list. You have the power to save up to eight lives, just by signing your organ donor card and sharing your wishes with your loved ones,” said Frank Markel, President and CEO of TGLN.

Today in Ontario, 1,665 patients are on the transplant waiting list.

“To give an organ to save someone's life, to me, is the ultimate expression of caring and unconditional love. In March 2008, I will be receiving a kidney (my third transplant in 24 years) from a loved one, and words can't describe what this means to me, to my life and the lives of my daughters,” said Justin Poy of Toronto. “Please sign your organ donor card and express your wishes to your family and those closest to you. It could undoubtedly be the most important gift you will ever give.”

Every three days someone dies waiting for an organ transplant in Ontario.

“I was given a chance to live and love again when I received my transplant,” said Carla Borton, a heart and double lung recipient from Thunder Bay. “I am grateful for each extra day I have been gifted to be with my loved ones. This Valentine's Day is special for me because this year I have someone special to share it with. I will be forever grateful that my donor and their family made the decision to give the gift of love to someone else.”

Everyone is a potential organ and tissue donor. The oldest Canadian organ donor to date was over 90 years of age, while the oldest tissue donor was 102.

“It's critical to share your decision with your family, as they will be asked for final consent to donate your organs after your death. Talk about your intentions with your loved ones and give them a copy of your signed donor card so they can understand, support and respect your wishes in the future,” said Markel. “Hundreds of lives are saved every year because of a simple conversation.”

For more details on Trillium Gift of Life Network or where you can obtain an organ donor card please visit our website at 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”

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

NORTHERN STUDENTS DEDICATED TO PROMOTING ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION

Lakehead University (Ontario, Canada) Nursing students raise awareness in aboriginal communities

February 12, 2008 – Thunder Bay, Ontario - Nursing students at Lakehead University are partnering with Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation in the aboriginal population.

Shallyn Kocis and Tamara Kreidl, both fourth-year Nursing students, have been working to assess the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding organ and tissue donation in the aboriginal population of Lakehead University and the Pic River First Nation for the last six weeks.

“Trillium Gift of Life Network is thrilled to work with such energetic future nurses. We are especially pleased with Shallyn and Tamara’s dedication to looking at an issue that is so important,” said Frank Markel, President and CEO of TGLN.

Their six-week study included examining support for donation at the University amongst the aboriginal students there, but also looking at support on the Pic River First Nation.

“Being from Pic River, I have seen these issues first hand and am aware of how important they are and how great an impact donation can have,” said Kreidl, who is of Ojibway decent.

The organs and tissue that can be donated include: the heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, small bowel, stomach, corneas, heart valves, bone and skin.

“This is an incredibly important initiative,” said Sandra Petzel, Organ and Tissue Donation Co-ordinator, Thunder Bay Health Sciences Centre. “It gives us a better understanding of our aboriginal families and allows us to work together to provide the best possible end-of-life care.”

One organ donor can save up to 8 lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others through tissue donation.

“This experience has opened my eyes to the issues that surround organ and tissue donation. The low donor rate and lack of knowledge that I have witnessed made me realize that, as a future nurse and frontline worker, I need to do my part to educate everyone around me,” said Kocis, who is originally from Kenora with a Metis background.

For more details on Trillium Gift of Life Network or where you can obtain an organ donor card, please visit our website at 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”

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Southern California assemblywoman puts name on list for lung transplant
due to scleroderma

Scleroderma is a chronic, degenerative, autoimmune disorder that leads to the over-production of collagen in the body's connective tissue. The word "scleroderma" means "hardening of the skin" and refers to one of the possible physical effects of the disease. Scleroderma in the lung makes the lungs less flexible and reduces their blood supply resulting in shortness of breath, susceptibility to bronchial problems, and pulmonary fibrosis (scarring and thickening of lung tissue).

For a full description of scleroderma click here.


From the San Jose Mercury News in California:
The 53-year-old Republican from Lancaster (Sharon Runner) disclosed her decision today to reporters. She said an autoimmune disease known as limited scleroderma makes it difficult for her to breathe when she climbs stairs or is at high altitudes.

She was diagnosed with the disease 20 years ago, but it has worsened over the past year-and-a-half. Limited scleroderma affects the part of the body that binds tissues and organs.

"It's almost like a hidden disease. Nobody knows you have it," Runner said.

Runner has missed session three days in the last two weeks after coming down with bronchial pneumonia. Its symptoms were worsened by her condition.

She says she will serve through the end of her term in November. However, she would miss a week of session if she receives a lung transplant before then.

In California, 179 people are on the wait list for lung transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Runner said she expects to get a transplant before the end of the year.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Brief intermission

There will be no new posts for a couple of days while I'm having some medical tests done related to my lung transplant. Meanwhile please browse previous posts and the sidebar links. Thanks, Merv.

Carrying the torch for organ donations

From the Brantford Expositor in Ontario, Canada:
On Monday morning, Tim Archibald attended classes at Brantford Collegiate Institute as usual, blithely unaware that Canada is in desperate need of more organ donors.

On Monday afternoon, the 19-year-old Grade 12 student entered the school's triple gymnasium to the rousing cheers of the entire student body, as he carried the torch - literally - for a national organ donor awareness campaign.

BCI students, including Archibald, learned that almost 4,000 people in Canada are on a waiting list for organ transplants. It's not enough just to sign your donor card, they were told - they should also make it clear to family members that it is their wish, in case of sudden death, to donate their organs.

about saving lives

"You guys have the ability to save up to eight people's lives," program organizer George Marcello told students. "Eight people could be kept alive as a result of your decision."

Marcello, a double-kidney transplant patient (Marcello actually had 2 liver transplants - not kidneys) who founded a group called Step by Step, was in Brantford as part of a countrywide torch relay for organ donor awareness. More than 100 students, including Archibald, have been selected by their schools to carry the torch from community to community, coast to coast.

Archibald said he was honoured to be selected and added that even though he didn't know much about organ donation before, he certainly is aware now that it is an important cause.

"It definitely is, yeah," he said after the ceremony, still holding the torch with pride.

Brant MP Lloyd St. Amand and Brant MPP Dave Levac were also both at the ceremony, which began with a torch-lighting at city hall followed by a procession through the streets to BCI.

Both politicians have tabled private member's bills in support of organ donation. St. Amand's federal bill, if passed, would allow donors to claim Employment Insurance benefits while off work for surgery and recuperation. Levac's provincial bill would put organ donation education on school curriculums.

"Every three days someone dies waiting for an organ," Levac said. "That's not acceptable in a city like Brantford and a province like Ontario."

Marcello said students are the focus of his campaign because he believes they can make a major difference at a grassroots level.

By signing cards and talking the cause up with family and friends, he said, "We can save every single person that's on that waiting list."

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Costa Rica's first heart-lung transplant patient dies

From the Tico Times in Costa Rica:
Mairen Alvarez, who made history last month as the first adult to undergo a heart-and-lung transplant in Costa Rica, has died from infection, doctors said. She was 21.

She died Sunday at 8:14 a.m. after suffering from septic shock from a severe bacterial infection, Luis Paulino Hernández, director of San José's Calderón Guardia Hospital, told The Tico Times yesterday.

Her passing occurred despite successful multiple operations, Hernández said. “The surgery was a success. Mairen was with us one month and during that time she regained consciousness, began eating and breathing by herself. Her heart was working well,” he said.

Alvarez sought the multiple transplants after she was diagnosed with lung distress that affected the right side of her heart.

A 23-year-old road accident victim in early January became her organ donor.

It was the second heart transplant -- and the first heart-lungs transplant -- in the country, Hernández said. And it seemed to be a great success, until late last week. Read the full story.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Monday, February 11, 2008

Hui Yi’s heart-warming meeting with donor’s family

This is a wonderful story about a heart transplant recipient and her family meeting her donor's family and the comfort that resulted for both.

From The Star in Malaysia:
JOHOR BARU: Miracle girl Tee Hui Yi has never known Chin Yoon Kiong. But she knows deep in her heart that he was a good person.

The 15-year-old heart transplant girl owes her life to 20-year-old Chin whose heart she now carries.

“I will be forever grateful to Chin and I will always pray for him and his family.

“Chin gave me a second lease on life,” said a teary-eyed Hui Yi, who visited Chin’s family in Kangkar Pulai on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Hui Yi was accompanied by her mother Dina Bato Sam Bua, 46, and 52-year-old father Tee Ah Soon.

Thank you: Hui Yi (center) hugging Moong (left) and her son Chin Yoon Liong, as Dina and Tee look on during a visit to the Chin family home in Kangkar Pulai on Thursday.

Thank you: Hui Yi (center) hugging Moong (left) and her son Chin Yoon Liong, as Dina and Tee look on during a visit to the Chin family home in Kangkar Pulai on Thursday

The teen told Chin’s parents that her son would always be “with her.”

Hui Yi, the younger of two siblings, had to rely on a mechanical heart before undergoing the operation on Oct 15 at the National Heart Institute (IJN).

She underwent her second transplant after her body rejected the first heart from a donor in Sitiawan, Perak.

Her second heart came from Chin, who was declared brain dead after a road accident in Johor Baru.

Meanwhile, Chin’s mother Moong Song Peng, said she was touched after meeting Hui Yi.

“I will keep in touch with this special girl and her family.

“Our sadness at not having our son during this Chinese New Year is a little less with Hui Yi’s visit,” she said between sobs.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Girl dies hours before heart transplant

This article further highlights the desperate need for organ donation and how important it is for us to continue to promote organ donation awareness.

From the Edmonton Sun in Canada:
TORONTO -- The small eastern Ontario town of Prescott is heartbroken by the death of a little girl just moments before she was to have a life-saving heart transplant operation.

Hannah Walker, 11, died Saturday at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children just hours after learning the donor heart that her parents had been praying for had been found.

Her mother and father were overjoyed by the news and a Valentine's dance had been planned for Feb. 16 to raise money to help offset expenses related to Hannah's care. But Hannah's cousin, Susan Prettejohn, said "she had some complications and everything just shut down while we were prepping her for surgery."

The spirited sixth grader fell ill last month, and her ordeal sparked an outpouring of community support.

As the news of her death spread through the community, residents whose hopes had been raised so high just hours earlier were griefstricken.

"It was so close. People here are devastated," said Prescott Mayor Suzanne Dodge.

If there was anything that might help dull the pain of Hannah's loss, it might be the knowledge that the heart that had been meant for Hannah was used to save the life of another child.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Organ-transplant black market thrives in India

From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Tears well up in P. Guna's eyes as he stares at a long scar running down his side. A year ago, he attempted to stave off mounting debt by swapping one of his healthy kidneys for quick cash.

"Humans don't need two kidneys, I was made to believe," he said. "I can sell my extra kidney and become rich, I thought."

At the time, an organ trader promised Guna, 38, a motorized-rickshaw driver with a fourth-grade education, $2,500 for the kidney, of which he eventually received only half. Since then, he has experienced excruciating pain in his hip that has kept him from working full time and pushed him deeper in debt.

In recent years, many Indian cities - like Chennai in southern India - have become hubs of a murky business in kidney transplants, despite a 1994 nationwide ban on human organ sales (the Transplant of Human Organ Act states only relatives of patients can donate kidneys).

An influx of patients, mainly foreigners, seeking the transplants, has made the illicit market a lucrative business. Some analysts say the business thrives for the same reasons that have made India a top destination for medical tourism: low cost and qualified doctors. In fact, medical tourism is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2012, according to government estimates.

Not surprisingly, an organized group of organ traders in cahoots with unscrupulous doctors is constantly on the prowl for donors like Guna.

In Gurgaon, a posh New Delhi suburb, police last month busted an illegal organ racket, which included doctors, nurses, pathology clinics and hospitals. In the past 14 years, the participants allegedly removed kidneys from about 500 day laborers, the majority of them abducted or conned, before selling the organs to wealthy clients. Read the full report.

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

Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network

Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

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

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Tobacco could kill more than one billion this century: report

A woman smoking a cigarette. Tobacco use could kill more than one billion people around the world this century unless governments and civil society quickly act to reverse the epidemic, according to a World health Organization (WHO) report released here Thursday.
"What does this report have to do with organ transplants?" you may say. Smoking has been linked to chronic lung disease, chronic heart and cardiovascular disease as well as reproductive problems. Other diseases linked to smoking include cancer of the bladder, esophagus, larynx, lung, mouth and throat. Additional diseases recently linked to smoking are acute myeloid leukemia and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach; abdominal aortic aneurysm, cataracts, periodontitis and pneumonia. Smokers die an average of 13 to 14 years earlier. I've met many, many patients in the hospital who are on the waiting list for a lung transplant because of COPD and other smoking-related diseases.

From The Citizen in South Africa:
Tobacco use could kill more than one billion people around the world this century unless governments and civil society act to reverse the epidemic, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report released Thursday.

"One hundred million deaths were caused by tobacco in the 20th century," said the report unveiled by WHO Director General Margaret Chan at a joint press conference with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"If current trends continue, there will be up to one billion deaths in the 21st century," the report said.

"Unchecked, tobacco-related deaths will increase to more than eight million a year by 2030, and 80 percent of those deaths will occur in the developing world."

The study, which provides key data on tobacco use and control for countries representing more than 99 percent of the world's population, recommends a six-pronged approach to combat the scourge.

The strategies involve monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, protecting people from tobacco smoke, offering help to quit tobacco use, warning about the dangers of tobacco, enforcing bans on tobacco advertising and promotion and raising taxes on tobacco. Read the complete article.

For a list of smoking deaths worldwide and smoking rates by country click here.

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Friday, February 08, 2008

Dr. Horror nabbed in Nepal

Man wanted in kidney cash scam has home in Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Amit Kumar speaks to the media while in police custody in Kathmandu on Feb. 8, 2008.


Amit Kumar speaks to the media while in police custody in Kathmandu on Feb. 8, 2008.

From the Toronto Sun:
KATHMANDU -- The alleged mastermind of an illegal kidney transplant ring -- who was once suspected of fleeing to the Toronto area -- was reportedly carrying a small fortune when he was arrested in Nepal yesterday.

Amit Kumar, called Dr. Horror in some Indian media reports because of the allegations, is an Indian national said to have family living in Brampton in a $600,000 home he reportedly bought with his wife, Poonam Ameet. The couple has two sons, aged 4 and 5.

The Himalayan Times quoted police sources in Nepal as saying that Kumar was arrested at a hotel in the southern town of Sauraha, about 60 km from the Indian border town of Raxaul.

The Kathmandu-based newspaper said Kumar, 40, and his Nepalese associate, identified as Manish Singh, checked into the hotel yesterday under Singh's name. Police showed up at the hotel shortly after and arrested Kumar, but Singh fled, the newspaper reported.

CNN.com reported that the Nepalese minister of state said Kumar was carring $145,000 in U.S. dollars and a cheque for another 900,000 euros ($1.3 million Cdn) when he was taken into custody.

Kumar became the subject of an international manhunt last week after Interpol issued a red notice for his arrest. Kumar and another doctor are wanted in India on counts of "illegal transplanting of kidneys, cheating and criminal conspiracy." Read the full article.

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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Organ recipient says a tearful thanks

From the The Wisconson State-Journal:
When Kevin Folden died at age 30 as a result of a construction accident, the lives of his wife and daughter were changed forever.

Because his wife, Nicole, chose to donate Kevin 's organ 's after his death, the lives of even more people were changed, as well.

One of those people is Jay Deppe. Deppe and his wife, Bev, live in Johnson Creek. Deppe, 40, received Kevin 's pancreas in July 2003 to treat the diabetes that had left him insulin-dependent since he was 11. The surgery was performed by Dr. Jon Odorico at UW Hospital.

On Tuesday, four years after Kevin 's death, the Deppes and the Foldens met for the first time at UW Hospital 's Organ Procurement Organization.

Deppe kept tissues close at hand as he waited for the Foldens to arrive. He clasped hands with his wife and, in shaking breaths, laughed at his own nervousness.

Folden, who lives in North Dakota, is on a cross-country journey with her daughter, Skyla, 5, and boyfriend, Carey Gieser, to meet some of the people who received Kevin 's organs. They were in Minnesota on Monday, and after spending a few days with the Deppes, they will head to Texas. Read the full story.

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Kidney kingpin to lose Canadian residence status

Undated Interpol handout photo of Amit Kumar, wanted by Interpol as the alleged ringleader of India's kidney-transplant factory.

Undated Interpol handout photo of Amit Kumar, wanted by Interpol as the alleged ringleader of India's kidney-transplant factory.

From Sify News:
Brampton, Ontario: Amit Kumar, the brain behind the multi-million-dollar kidney scam, will lose his permanent resident status in Canada once he is convicted of organ trafficking.

"Canadian law is very specific about that. Once you are convicted of human organ trafficking, or any serious crime, you are out," Sheetal Jhuti, immigration director of Mississauga-based ICAN Inc, told IANS.

She said Kumar, nicknamed 'Dr Horror', will lose his Canadian status even if the crime has been committed outside Canada.

He might also come under the scanner for his financial transfers to Canada, she added.

However, there are no clues about `Dr Horror' being in Canada. His Pali Drive residence in the Toronto suburb of Brampton, where his wife and two young sons live, looked empty on Tuesday.

No one answered the doorbell, and residents were tightlipped about their infamous neighbours. Phone calls met with this response on the answering machine: ‘At the customer's request, the service has been temporarily cancelled.'

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), meanwhile, said it continues to work with the Indian authorities in the case.

"We are in communication with Indian authorities on this issue and Interpol-Ottawa is extending them all assistance," said RCMP officer Sylvie Tremblay said on the phone from Ottawa.

At this stage, she said, it was an Indian investigation and various Canadian law enforcement agencies were involved in assisting them.

Refusing to speculate whether Kumar could be in Canada, she said Interpol-Ottawa was working on the red alert issued by Interpol-New Delhi.

Former Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said, "It is absolutely tragic to allow people to run trade in human organs. Buying and selling of human organs is inhumane and unethical," he said. Read the complete article.

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Elliot Lake man receives new heart, new lease on life

Elliot Lake’s Jack Quinte and his family never gave up hope that someday he would receive a new heart, which he did last summer

Elliot Lake’s Jack Quinte and his family never gave up hope that someday he would receive a new heart, which he did last summer. Photo by Shannon Quesnel

From The Elliot Lake Standard in Ontario, Canada:
Determination, hope causes for success

Elliot Lake’s Jack and Elaine Quinte have never given up hope.

Not even when doctors told Jack he would not live to see last Christmas.

Jack was on a heart transplant list, but he was told last summer his name would be taken off the list due to his declining health.

Well, things did not pan out as the doctors predicted and now Jack and Elaine are enjoying his new lease on life and his new, healthy heart.

Jack is one of the lucky ones.
From 1994 to 2004, data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information showed 375 Canadians died waiting for a heart transplant, and in 2004 more than 130 adults and children were waiting for new hearts.

February is Heart Month and organizations such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada are encouraging everyone to sign organ donor cards. Read the full article.

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