Using Social Media to Find Organ Transplants

I am pleased to post this guest article by Elaine Hirsch.

Patients in need of organ transplants battle their lives day-to-day waiting for a transplant. Unfortunately, the current process for facilitating organ transplants is inefficient and often unfair; patients must be sick enough to qualify for an organ but not so sick that the transplant procedure itself might kill them. With over 100,000 people in the United States waiting for an organ, the risks of dying before organ transplant are all too real. Experts, including PhD program professor and author Steven Levitt have been very vocal about the need for reform in the organ transplant market.Some people waiting for organs have turned to social media to find their own donor rather than sit idle on the United Network for Organ Sharing, better known as UNOS, the national waiting list.
According to UNOS, 6,521 people died in 2010 while waiting for an organ. Some could have been saved if living donors had given bone marrow, a kidney or part of their liver to them. One of the reasons for such a shortage is that some organs, such as hearts and lungs, can't be donated by living donors but must come from cadavers. Recipients who have a family member whose blood type and other criteria matches theirs can bypass the waiting list and undergo a living donor transplant. Those who don't sometimes turn to social media outlets to advertise their needs. This type of appeal to others for donation works best when a child needs an organ, or if the person is well-known in their community (physical or virtual). It's also easier to find someone to donate bone marrow than it is to find someone to donate part of their liver, a far more invasive procedure. Federal laws prohibit the sale of organs, so money is not supposed to change hands in these transactions.

Advertising that you need a kidney on Facebook may seem unusual, but 30- year-old Melissa Foster got 100 people to come forward as potential kidney donors by asking on her Facebook page. While prospective donors still need to undergo a rigorous qualification process, including medical and psychological testing, Foster still may have put herself one giant step closer to receiving a kidney by asking for one on a social network.

Another slightly more conventional way to find a donor when no one in your family qualifies works like a chain reaction. People needing liver transplants who don't have relatives with their blood type find other people waiting for transplant in the same situation. If the donors match, the two families exchange donors. These chains can grow to four or five people, until everyone has a match.

Social media is a way to reach many people with little effort. Many people will donate an organ once they learn of a specific need, particularly if the person is appealing in some way, such as a child. But therein lies the risk and the concern about the ethics of advertising for a donor. What happens to people who are less physically or emotionally appealing? Should organ donation be based on the recipient's ability to market themselves? Ethicists continue to debate these questions, but people waiting for organs don't have time to lose debating.

About the author:
Elaine Hirsch is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites, including onlinephd.org and writing about all these things instead.

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Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You.

Medical center performs rare, double living donor organ transplant

Penn State Live

Transplant surgeons at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center recently performed their first simultaneous, dual living donor organ transplant on a single recipient. The recipient, a 60-year-old man from the Hazleton area, received a kidney from his wife and a section of his youngest son’s liver in a complicated surgery that lasted nearly 19 hours. Simultaneous transplants of multiple organs from multiple living donors to a single recipient are exceedingly rare in the United States; since 1987, the procedure has been performed with a liver and kidney coming from different living donors just 10 other times.

On March 15 following more than a year and a half of progressive illness that lead to cryptogenic cirrhosis of the liver, Timothy Bradbury, of New Boston, Pa., received a kidney from his wife, Mary Ellen Bradbury, 55, and the right lobe of the liver from his youngest son, James Bradbury, 19. The nature and severity of his illness meant Timothy Bradbury’s chances for getting two unrelated organ matches or two organs from a deceased donor in time were low.

“Timothy Bradbury suffered from end-stage liver disease thought to be congenital in origin and associated with progressive kidney failure,” said Dr. Zakiyah Kadry, chief of the division of transplant surgery and surgical director of liver transplantation. “His overall clinical condition had been deteriorating significantly, with severe fluid accumulation in the belly and extreme muscle wasting from a poor nutritional status secondary to his liver disease. Both of these complications are not well reflected by the MELD score, which is the scoring system used to decide a patient’s position on the national transplant waiting list.”

Because of this discrepancy, Timothy Bradbury’s risk of death on the waiting list was very high had he had to wait for a standard donor. A combined liver and kidney transplant was felt to be necessary, and several members of Timothy Bradbury’s family indicated they wished to donate.

“We opted to proceed with two separate donors rather than remove both the kidney and part of the liver from a single live donor to reduce the operative and long term donor risks,” Kadry said.

In a living donor liver transplant, a portion of the liver is obtained from a healthy donor -- in most cases a spouse, family member or close friend -- and transplanted into the recipient. The liver is the only organ in the body that can regenerate to normal function and size within approximately one to two months.

Timothy Bradbury’s new liver and kidney continue to perform well as he recovers from the transplant from his son and wife. Six weeks after the surgery, James Bradbury’s liver has regenerated to full size. He says he’s grateful he was able to donate to his father and give him a second chance.

“Everybody’s put on this planet for a reason, and maybe this is mine. In my heart, that’s why I feel I’m here -- to save my dad’s life,” James Bradbury said. “To other people out there who might be considering being an organ donor, I’d say don’t be afraid to take the chance and give something of yourself to help human kind.”

“This is something we all feel was meant to be,” Mary Ellen Bradbury said. “It’s going to take awhile for things to get back to normal, but everyone -- from the doctors and nurses here to the people back home where we live -- have been so amazing to us. There’s really no way to thank everyone for what went on here.”

In the United States, the demand for donor organs continues to exceed that of supply. Currently there are more than 16,000 patients registered on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waiting list for a liver organ and only 6,000 to 6,500 liver transplants are being performed annually. In Pennsylvania, nearly 1,500 candidates are on the liver transplant waiting list. According to the UNOS database, between 1,500 and 2,000 candidates on the national liver transplant waiting list die each year while waiting for a liver organ. While living liver donor numbers are limited as donor safety is the primary concern, the procedure provides at least 200 to 300 additional liver transplants annually.

Penn State Hershey Medical Center has a rigorous multidisciplinary selection process to ensure the absolute safety of the donor and recipient. The Medical Center’s live donor liver transplant program is focused on specific categories of patients on the waiting list that have a higher-than-average risk of being unable to receive a liver transplant in a timely manner, such as blood group O recipients or patients with recurrent significant complications of their liver disease that place them at risk without improving their chances of receiving a liver transplant on the current liver allocation system.

Penn State Hershey Medical Center is UNOS-certified for live donor liver transplantation. Kadry leads an interdisciplinary team of transplant surgeons, anesthesiologists, hepatologists, pre- and post-transplant coordinators, nurses, social workers, transplant pharmacists and nutritionists who are all actively involved in transplant patients’ care.

For more information about living donor liver transplantation at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, call 717-531-6092, or visit the website at www.PennStateHershey.org/transplant.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today!
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

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Man donates part of liver to dad while awaiting second child

Peter Boughan donated 70 percent of his liver to his father Robin

By CARMELA FRAGOMENI, THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR, Ontario, Canada

Fatherhood has extraordinary meaning in Burlington's Boughan family.

Son Peter, 30, recently donated 70 per cent of his liver to his father Robin, 63. It saved Robin's life.

In a week or two, Peter will become a father again when his wife Jen gives birth to their second child.

"My dad's health was going down quite rapidly and I love my dad," said Peter about undergoing the transplant despite having 15-month-old daughter Leah to care for and another baby on the way.

"I don't think I could live with myself happily if I didn't do anything and I could have made a difference."

Peter, a supply teacher, was the third person tested for suitability. The first, Robin's brother who 21 years ago donated bone marrow to help Robin to fight leukemia, turned out to be a no-go. Same for Robin's daughter.

In all, seven family members, friends and fellow churchgoers at Hamilton's Philpott Memorial had offered part of their liver. Many more in Hamilton, Burlington, the U.S. and Africa offered their prayers after hearing about Robin through friends, family or the church network.

"This is the answer to the prayers of many people," Robin said. "It became a wonder to me to hear from someone that so and so was praying for me.

"The whole thing has an emotion for me that is very gripping. I get very emotional these people would do this for me ... and to think my son would do what he did for me ..."

Robin, a retired teacher and former art department head at Sherwood Secondary in Hamilton, was diagnosed in March 2009 with cirrhosis.

"He doesn't even drink," said his wife Sandy.

Doctors who did the transplant at Toronto General blamed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. His Hamilton doctors thought it was something else. Whatever the cause, the result was the same: he needed a new liver or he would die.

Robin was put on a list for a transplant this November when his symptoms worsened. He moved up when his kidneys started to fail and water retention bloated him severely. By March 31, doctors bumped another patient out of surgery to make room for Robin's operation because he was too sick to wait anymore.

"It was very stressful," Sandy said. "Because you have both of them in surgery at the same time, on the same day, and they are long surgeries."

Peter's surgery was seven hours, Robin's 13.

"Even though they tell you Peter's healthy, it's still stressful," Sandy said. "He has a wife who's pregnant and a daughter ..."

Both she and Robin urge people to sign their donor card and make their wishes for organ donation clear to their families, especially when it comes to livers.

Once in, liver transplants have the lowest chance of rejection among transplants and 90 per cent of the removed portion used in the transplant grows back within 12 weeks, doctors told them.

"They are looking for liver donors all the time," Sandy said.

From a statistical point of view, the transplant is relatively risk-free, said Robin. Even 80-year-olds can donate because the liver is an organ that regenerates itself.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! 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

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 75 to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Couple celebrate Valentine’s Day transplant anniversary

Kyle Terry and Dawn Terry are pictured Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009, at their home. A year ago, Dawn donated her kidney to her husband.
Photo: Scott Morgan - RRSTAR.com

By Chris Green Norwich Bulletin

CRESTON, Ill. —
It’s a good thing Kyle and Dawn Terry don’t engage in a game of one-upmanship when it comes to giving each other Valentine’s Day gifts.

If they did, Kyle would be hard-pressed to top his wife’s gift to him: a kidney.

“It’s a pretty selfless thing to do when someone gives you something like that,” said Kyle, who was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease.

Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of their surgeries performed at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison.

Kyle and Dawn agreed to share their story to bring awareness to the need for organ donations.

Polycystic kidney disease is a genetic disorder characterized by the growth of numerous cysts in the kidneys. The fluid-filled cysts enlarge the kidneys, resulting in reduced kidney function and eventually kidney failure. The result is life on dialysis or, in Kyle’s case, a kidney transplant.

“When I think of what I could be going through,” he said, “this is probably the best Valentine’s Day I could have.”

Kyle, 50, was diagnosed with the disease 25 years ago.

“It comes on slow,” he said. “You don’t really notice how bad you’re getting. You gradually slow down. I had an accident at work. I hit my kidney area on the side. I went to the doctor to get X-rays, and that’s when they discovered I had the disease.”

The diagnosis was made about seven years before Kyle and Dawn met while on the job at the now-defunct Caron Yarn, a yarn-spinning factory in Rochelle.

Dawn said she understood a day would come when Kyle would need a kidney transplant or would go on dialysis until a donor became available.

“We had talked about it, and I always said, ‘When it gets time, you can have one of mine.’ I knew we were the same blood type.

”I never gave it a second thought. From the time I was 16 years old, I’ve been an organ donor on my license.”

Kathy Schultz, a University of Wisconsin Hospital spokeswoman, said every day 18 people die on the “waiting list” and a new name is added to the list every 13 minutes.

“This is a big reason why living donation is so important,” she said. “It not only provides the gift of life to the recipient, but also removes their name from the waiting list, effectively moving everyone else up one notch. That’s why we call living donors ‘double heroes.’ They’re really saving two lives.”

Kyle was one to two weeks away from going on dialysis when he and Dawn went under the knife.

Dawn said the fact that the potentially life-saving procedure was performed on Valentine’s Day was merely a coincidence. Kyle said the fact that the kidney came from his wife and spared him from one day on dialysis was a blessing.

Dawn is encouraging everyone to give, be it as a living donor or otherwise.

“If you have a chance to be a donor, do it. The way it’s done, your recovery is not that long, and it’s well worth it,” she said. “It’s gratifying, it’s easy, and the doctors were great.”

Dawn said the four-hour laparoscopic surgery consisted of four incisions and a three-day stay in the hospital.

“I wasn’t doing cartwheels, but they had me up the same day I had the surgery.”

Kyle, a mechanic for Silgan Containers in Rochelle, also has made a full recovery. Instead of daily dialysis, he takes daily medication to keep his body from rejecting the organ.

As for how the couple will celebrate the one-year milestone, Dawn said:

“We’ll have dinner and just have a quiet evening at home.”

Donors needed

In the U.S., 100,678 people are waiting for a transplant, of which 78,380 (78 percent) need a kidney.

“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

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Estranged husband wants his donated kidney back

This story made headlines because it's so bizarre, but as the article notes, organs in North America cannot be bought and sold. The donation of an organ is a gift and once you give something you cannot get it back.

BY CHAU LAM AND RIDGELY OCHS Newsday

When Dr. Richard Batista's wife needed a kidney, he gave her one of his.

And now that Dawnell Batista has filed for a divorce, he says he wants it back.

He knows he won't get the kidney, but his attorney, Dominic Barbara of Garden City, said yesterday that his client would take $1.5 million - which, he said, reflects in part the value of the kidney transplant.

Richard Batista is seeking the kidney because he claimed he later found his wife was having an affair.

Dawnell Batista's attorney, Douglas Rothkopf of Garden City, would not address specifics, saying only, "The facts will speak for themselves and they're not as represented by Dr. Batista."

Medical ethicists agreed that the case is a nonstarter. Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics said the likelihood of Batista getting either his kidney or cash was "somewhere between impossible and completely impossible."

Robert Veatch, a medical ethicist at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics, noted that "it's illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value." Organs in the United States may not be bought or sold. Donating an organ is a gift and legally, "when you give something, you can't get it back," he said.

"It's her kidney now and ... taking the kidney out would mean she would have to go on dialysis or it would kill her," Veatch said.

Barbara said his client isn't really looking for Dawnell Batista to give back her kidney. "Does he really want the kidney back? Of course not," he said.

Batista said his aim instead was to draw attention to her not allowing him agreed-upon visitation with the couple's three children, ages 14, 11 and 8.

Batista, 49, of Ronkonkoma, said he donated his kidney to his wife in June 2001, after she had undergone two other failed transplants when her kidneys ceased working.

"My first priority was to save her life," Batista said at a news conference in Garden City. "The second bonus was to turn the marriage around."

Batista, a surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center since 1992, said the marriage had been shaky because of his wife's illness.

Initially, Batista said he was happy with his gift of life: "I was walking on a cloud. I did the right thing for her and to this day I would do it again."

Dawnell Batista, a nurse, filed for divorce in July 2005, and her husband countersued that same year. The grounds for the divorce were unclear yesterday. The demand for the kidney was introduced yesterday, Barbara said.

Barbara said the $1.5 million his client feels he's entitled to reflects damages. "A price can't be placed on a human organ but it does have value," he said.

Caplan disagreed. "There's nothing later [you can get] in terms of compensation if you regret your gift," he said.

Staff writer John Valenti contributed to this story.

“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

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves