Liver transplant gave York, England man ten extra years with his family

Michale Sadler's liver transplant gave him ten textra years with his family: Michale Sadler, left, his wife Pat, and sons Gary and Darren.

By Jeremy Small The Press

THE FAMILY of a liver transplant patient was today mourning his death but also giving thanks for the extra ten years he enjoyed thanks to the lifesaving operation.

Michael Sadler, of Badger Hill, York, lived almost a decade longer than expected after another family donated a liver for the transplant, enabling him to see his sons graduate from university and one of them become an officer in the RAF.

Today his widow paid tribute to her late husband.

Pat Sadler said: “It’s very hard knowing he’s gone but we’re trying to be positive that he’s had nearly ten years that he wouldn’t have had if there hadn’t been a kind family who donated the liver. We’ll always be grateful for the generosity of the donors.” Pat, 63, said Michael took great delight in following the successes of their sons, Gary, 35, and Darren, 31, in the last ten years of his life.

“He had the liver transplant in 1999 and he sort of lived life to the full after that, health permitting. It sort of changed his attitude on life completely. He was always so grateful to have the chance to have the transplant.” In 1996, Michael was made a Freeman of York, a title given through birthright or servitude.

His great-grandfather, Henry Sadler, who was a confectioner in York, was also a freeman of the city, as was his father, Arthur Lane Sadler.

Pat said Michael, 65, was a leading table tennis player in York, playing in the first division. He also played cricket at Scarcroft and British Sugar cricket clubs.

Michael, a former maintenance plumber at the Nestlé Rowntree factory in Haxby Road, also worked for the youth service in York for about 20 years, as a youth leader.

“He used to take youth groups away for weekends. He started off at Archbishop Holgate’s School helping out with the youth group there and then he qualified as a youth leader and a community sports leader.”

Pat described her husband as a hugely giving person.

“He would do anything for anybody. Nothing was ever too much trouble. If anybody needed anything done he would be down to help out. If something broke down, he’d go down and help.”

For the past 20 years, Michael was involved with York Electronic Organ and Keyboard Society, serving as concert secretary, president and chairman.

“He couldn’t play but I play and my sons play and he actually built two of the organs that we have.”

Michael, who was born in York on June 12, 1943, is also survived by his mother, Joan, his brother, Roy, and his sister, June. He died of liver and kidney failure, at York Hospital on March 22.

A funeral service will be held at St Paul’s Church, in Heslington, York, at 2pm today, and at York Crematorium at 3pm.


Carrying card can save a life

THERE are more than 9,000 people in the UK desperately wanting an organ transplant that could save or dramatically improve their life.

The UK Transplant Service says that most are waiting for a kidney but others need new a new liver, lung or heart and that only 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.

But becoming an organ donor is not difficult and the more people who pledge to donate their organs after their death the more people whose lives can be saved.

To sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register, phone 0845 6060400. Alternatively, do it online at UK Transplant.

“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

100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ transplant

The Record Live (Texas)

Organ Transplant Crisis: A New Approach

April is National Donate Life Month, and 100,000 people in the U.S. are racing the clock for their survival.

They need an organ transplant, and over half of these individuals will die before getting their life-saving operation.

The issue is not shortage of organs, but a shortage of donors, according to David J. Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers, a non-profit network of organ donors.

In the time it takes for 8,000 of these transplant hopefuls to die, approximately 20,000 viable organs will be thrown away – buried or cremated with their owners. LifeSharers wants to change that by giving people a chance to save their own lives by agreeing to donate their organs after they die.

The Power of Community

LifeSharers is marshalling the power of community in organ donations – with impressive results. The organization has created a 12,000+ member national network of individuals that have agreed to donate their organs upon their death. In exchange, these donors receive priority access to the organs of fellow members when and if they need a transplant. For the members of LifeSharers, their good deed can literally save their life.

By creating such a powerful incentive for non-donors to become donors, this reciprocity-based approach to organ donation has the potential to greatly increase the total pool of available organs. And more donors means fewer people dying while waiting for transplants.

And by rewarding those who agree to become donors, it also creates a much more equitable system of organ transplant access. As Undis puts it, “someone who would throw away his organs rather than save his neighbor’s life has no moral claim to a life-saving organ from his neighbor.”

LifeSharers’ community-driven approach is making organ donations – and access to organs – much more visible and mainstream. Because the network is open to the very old and very young (parents may enroll their under-age children), the sick and healthy, and is free of charge, barriers to access are virtually eliminated.

Organ Donation Facts

LifeSharers also works to educate the public about organ donation. For example, Undis notes the following.

• Over 6,000 Americans die every year while on the waiting list for a life-saving transplant -- one every 90 minutes.


• Half of the organs that could be transplanted are buried or cremated instead.


• The waiting list is growing 5 times as fast as the rate of organ donation.


• You are more likely to need an organ transplant than you are to die in circumstances that permit the donation your organs.


• No one is too old to be an organ donor. People would rather live with an old organ than die waiting for a young one.


• No one is too sick to be an organ donor. Ongoing advances in medical science mean that an organ that may not be transplantable today may very well be so five, ten or more years from now.

More information can be found at http://www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88.

“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

Transplant helped me live again

FRIENDS RALLY ROUND PERTHSHIRE (UK) WOMAN BATTLING RARE ILLNESS

By Mark Dowie The Press and Journal

Friends of a Perthshire woman who suffers from a rare lung condition have rallied round to raise awareness of the illness – and funds for a support group.

Audrey Ferguson, of Meth-ven, is one of just 120 people in the UK with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) (learn more at The LAM Foundation) – a lung-wasting disease that affects mainly young women.

Mrs Ferguson, 36, was diagnosed 12 years ago. And until she had a lung transplant in August last year she relied on bottled oxygen and was in a wheelchair.

Her remaining lung is still affected but she is now able to live a relatively normal life.

“When it started I had around 10 different lung collapses over two or three months,” she said.

“I hadn’t heard about the condition and even when it was diagnosed and my GP looked it up in a medical journal there was only one paragraph about it. It’s so rare a lot of people are misdiagnosed but the consultant I saw at Perth Royal Infirmary had seen one case before and recognised the symptoms.”

Mrs Ferguson was placed on a waiting list for a single lung transplant and, after eight false alarms, was called to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle last August.

After the transplant, she was in a critical condition in intensive care and her husband Adrian, 37, was told “not to hold out much hope”.

“It wasn’t a particularly great start but I pulled through and made progress,” said Mrs Ferguson.

“I’m extremely grateful to the donor for putting their name on the organ donor register and to their family who let the transplant go ahead.”

Mrs Ferguson’s friends have organised a sponsored walk along the West Highland Way next month to raise money for LAM Action, a support group for sufferers.

They intend to set off on April 20 and complete the 94 miles in five days.

Mrs Ferguson, a committee member for LAM Action, said: “I’m really touched that my friends are making this gruelling trip to raise money for such a worthwhile cause.

“Just because this terrible disease is so rare, it’s no less life-shattering for patients and their families.”

The group can be sponsored at Over The Hill Walkers

“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

Natasha Richardson's organs donated

Photo: Natasha Richardson. Jochen Luebke / AFP / Getty Images

In Death, Natasha Richardson Gives Life

CBS News (AP) - People.com is reporting that Natasha Richardson's family has donated the actress's organs to save other patients' lives. 

Citing a "family friend" it did not name, the celebrity Web site said Richardson's family had requested her organs be donated after she was taken off life support last week. The report did not say whether any patient had received them. 

Alan Nierob, publicist for Richardson's husband Liam Neeson, said he had no information on the matter. 

Richardson died March 18 at a Manhattan hospital after falling while skiing Monday at the Mont Tremblant resort in the Canadian province of Quebec. The New York City medical examiner's office said Richardson suffered from an epidural hematoma, which causes bleeding between the skull and the brain's covering. She wasn't wearing a helmet when she fell. 

She was buried at a private ceremony in upstate New York over the weekend. Celebrities, who paid their respects included Diane Sawyer, Ethan Hawke and Sarah Jessica Parker. 

Richardson is descended from one of Britain's great acting dynasties but built her own reputation in films such as “Patty Hearst” and “The Handmaid's Tale,” as well as for her work on the stage. She won a Tony for her role in the 1998 revival of “Cabaret.” 

She costarred with future husband Neeson in the 1993 revival of Eugene O'Neill's “Anna Christie.” The two married at their secluded Millbrook home the next year. 

Her final feature film, “Wild Child,” has been released internationally but not in the U.S., and Universal Pictures said a U.S. release date had not been scheduled. 

“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

Singapore allows financial payment to organ donors

The issue of reimbursement for living donors remains controversial because of the potential for abuse. It's against the law in most jurisdictions to buy or sell human organs. In the U.S. the Expenses toward Living Organ Donation Program allows expenses for travel, lodging, and meals and incidental expenses incurred by the donor and/or his/her accompanying person(s). Read the Federal Register for full details.

(Have an opinion on this? Please enter your comments at the end of the post)

Asiaone

(AFP) - Singapore has passed a law allowing cash payments to organ donors despite objections from some ruling-party deputies who fear poor foreigners may be exploited by desperately ill Singaporeans.

The legislative amendment to the Human Organ Transplant Act was passed by lawmakers Tuesday, according to the parliament website.

Previously, it was illegal for a living donor to be financially compensated but the issue came to a head last year when a local tycoon was jailed for one day for attempting to pay off a prospective Indonesian kidney donor.

"This is a bill about fairness, being fair to donors who do suffer financial consequences as a result of their act of donation," Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan told parliament Tuesday during the final debate on the issue.

"I know the controversial nature of paying donors," Khaw said. "But we also realise that it is unfair to allow genuine donors to bear all the financial consequences of their altruistic acts."

Khaw said he disagreed with the suggestion made by some lawmakers that foreign donors be barred from accepting financial compensation to prevent exploitation of nationals from poor countries.

"How can we discriminate against the foreign donors in this fashion?" Khaw said.

"Once we decide that some payments can be ethically made, our law cannot unfairly discriminate against organ donors based on their nationalities," he said.

Under the new law, an organ recipient can voluntarily pay the donor if he wishes to help cover expenses like hospital and surgery fees.

The new legislation will bring Singapore in line with similar practices in the United States and Britain where donors are financially compensated, according to Khaw.

The Singapore government proposed changing the law after the city-state's first known organ-trading case surfaced last year.

Retail tycoon Tang Wee Sung was jailed one day and fined S$17,000 Singapore dollars for entering into an illegal arrangement to buy a kidney for a transplant operation and falsely declaring the would-be donor was a distant relative. He eventually received a kidney from another donor.

Khaw had told parliament 26 people died last year in Singapore while waiting for a donor organ.

“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

“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

Victim lives on through donations

This story has great meaning for me. I was a mentor to Grant Hagerty before his double-lung transplant at Toronto General Hospital and we have been friends ever since. Grant is a wonderful example for all organ recipients. He helps to save lives by advocating for organ donation awareness and lives a positive, healthy and active lifestyle while continuing to work full-time.

CecilyKowalik (left), the mother of organ donor Kyla Kowalik; lung recipient Grant Hagerty (center); and Moira Austin, chair of St. Mary's Hospital organ and tissue donation committee.

Staff at St. Mary's Hospital learns what organ donation means to the family of late teenager

By LIZ MONTEIRO Waterloo Region Record

Within minutes of being told her 17-year-old daughter was dead, Cecily Kowalik asked hospital staff if her eldest child could donate organs or tissue.

"I needed her to live on," Kowalik told a boardroom of staff at St. Mary's Hospital in Kitchener yesterday.

"When you find out what you have lost . . ." she said, choking with emotion as she looked at a framed photo of Kyla Kowalik. "Immediately someone can benefit," she added.

Kyla died Nov. 6, 2006, of a complication following knee surgery.

A Grade 12 student at Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School in Baden, Kyla had had a successful operation on her right knee and was recovering at home when she fell down some stairs. An autopsy showed she died from blood clots in the veins going from her heart to her lungs.

To raise awareness for Organ and Tissue Donation Month in April, the hospital invited Cecily Kowalik to speak yesterday, along with Grant Hagerty of Waterloo.

Hagerty received a double-lung transplant nearly three years ago.

At St. Mary's, three livers and four kidneys donated in the last year saved seven lives. Twenty-four people donated their eyes; three others, bones.

Moira Austin, chair of the hospital's organ and tissue donation committee, is being recognized by the Trillium Gift of Life Network for her work in the field. She is an intensive-care nurse at the hospital.

Two young females received a knee and ankle from Kyla. Her eyes helped a young boy and a man.

"I hope we changed the life of people who received her tissue," Cecily said.

Cecily Kowalik said she looks forward to getting in touch with the recipients who received a part of Kyla.

"It would be my dream to meet those two girls," she said in an interview. "I would be so proud of them, and I want them to know that to have a part of her (Kyla) live on in someone else is such a blessing."

Hagerty, 54, said he's thankful to be alive each day.

"I lived on death's doorstep," he said, recalling being hooked up to an oxygen tank around the clock.

He was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder in 1985. In 2005, his medication costs soared to $55,000. "Without the grace and charity of an organ family, I simply wouldn't be here today," he said.

Hagerty had his transplant on Aug. 6, 2006 at Toronto General Hospital.

He said he has lost eight friends who were waiting for transplants, or who died after the procedure.

Hagerty often reflects on his good fortune. "I live (life) full throttle,": said Hagerty, who runs, cycles, swims, teaches disabled children to ski and works full-time as a sales representative for DTZ Barnicke Ltd.

"I learn to be more in the moment because it can change so quickly."

“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

Egyptian Sunni Cleric: Use Death Row Prisoners’ Organs for Transplant

(Have an opinion on this? Please enter your comments at the end of the post)

Written by The Media Line Staff
The Media Line

Mufti Muhammad Sayid Tantawi, the head of the Al-Azhar University in Egypt and one of the most influential clerics in the Sunni Islamic world has proposed that organs of prisoners on death row be used in transplant procedures, the Egyptian newspaper Daily News Egypt reported.

The proposal comes at a time when the Egyptian parliament is debating a new law on organ transplants, much of which has focused on the definition of when a person is dead.

Tantawi was, according to the paper, referring to the 10 men recently sentenced to death after being found guilty of kidnapping and raping a woman.

Parliamentarians opposing the proposal argued that it would be a violation of a person’s basic human rights to take his or her organs without consent.

In 1992, the then Egyptian attorney general ruled that doctors might take organs from a person after execution. The doctors were supposed to wait until the prisoner was pronounced clinically dead and keep his organs functioning while they operated. Instead, the doctors operated while the person was still technically alive. The attorney general then retracted his decision and charged the doctors with first degree murder.

Egypt is among the countries listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as hot spots for organ trafficking and is under pressure to follow the actions of other hot spots such as China and the Philippines to outlaw organ sales and to bar foreigners from undergoing transplants to stop what the WHO calls transplant tourism.

“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

Man held in organ transplant fraud case

Here's a more in-depth article about the organ transplant fraud case In Guam. What this man has done is sickening and an insult to humanity.

(Have an opinion on this ? Please enter your comments at the end of the post)

By Brett Kelman Pacific Daily News

A psychiatrist from Florida accused of defrauding desperately ill patients of about $400,000 by arranging fake organ transplants in the Philippines was transported to Guam Thursday on his way to the U.S. mainland.

Jerome Howard Feldman was caught in the Philippines last month, according to documents filed in the District Court of Guam.

A warrant of removal signed by District Court of Guam Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan on Thursday ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to deliver Feldman to New York. Yesterday, no one at the U.S. Marshals Service would say if Feldman had left the island or when he would leave.

Feldman faces five counts of wire fraud in a New York federal court. If convicted, he could face 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

Feldman also must face charges of health-care fraud, racketeering, money laundering and stolen property filed in Florida between 1999 and 2001, the release states.

According to an affidavit filed in District Court by FBI Special Agent James Lyons Jr., Feldman allegedly deceived people with dying relatives with his Web site, www.liver4you.org. His alleged victims deposited money but received no aid.

One victim, Canadian resident Erwin Benke-Langier, died in the Philippines while waiting for the liver Feldman allegedly promised him under the alias "Dr. Mitch Michaelson."

Michaelson, or Feldman, convinced Langier's wife to wire $37,000 into an account, according to the affidavit. When Langier arrived in Manila, Michaelson never showed up.

Michaelson allegedly told Langier's wife not to ask questions in the Filipino medical community because she would damage a delicate relationship with the medical community and demanded another $33,000 be wired into an account. She did.

On July 11, 2008, Langier died in the Philippines from liver failure without ever receiving a transplant, the affidavit states. His wife was left with a $20,000 hospital bill.

She contacted the New York Police Department about a month later, sparking an investigation that eventually led to Feldman's recent arrest in the Philippines.

Web Site

The organ Web site -- http://www.liver4you.org -- is still up. The site claims to offer legal kidney and liver transplants from living donors that are performed in the Philippines by qualified U.S. surgeons and sponsored by the government. The site states that the transplants must be performed outside the country and Medicare can't pay for them.

"In the USA it can be financed by selling your life insurance ... or getting a second mortgage," the Web site reads. "Just ask our advice."

The Web site provides readers with four e-mail addresses that have been connected to Feldman, according to the affidavit. The Web site has almost 78,000 hits.

More Victims

Lyons' affidavit includes the story of another victim who transferred $45,000 to Michaelson in hopes of finding a liver for a loved one last year.

Michaelson told the victim her loved one was on a waiting list and requested another $30,000, but the victim declined and asked for a refund of her original transfer, the affidavit states. Michaelson refused.

Banking records from several accounts allegedly controlled by Feldman suggest he may have deceived about five more people who were looking for transplants, according to the affidavit.

Feldman's e-mail records show that his family was aware of his alleged scheme, he sent them some of the money that was transferred to him and that his wife may have helped him flee from police, according to the affidavit.

"It is harder than puling teeth to get money out of people even if they face severe health problems or even death, without my help," Feldman allegedly wrote to his son, Travis. "I am trying to get another $30,000 from the above person. But it ain't a sure thing."

Previous Charges

Feldman's alleged crimes don't start in the Philippines or New York.

According to Lyons' affidavit, Feldman first was arrested in Belgium in 1968 and charged with issuing false checks, using a false identity and swindling.

And Feldman became a fugitive in 1999 after failing to appear in a Florida district court, the affidavit states.

Feldman was charged with health-care fraud in Florida because he allegedly sought Medicare reimbursement for medical and psychiatric services he never performed. He was paid almost $2.7 million for almost 7,000 false claims, the affidavit states.

In 2001, a Florida court also charged Feldman in relation to the resale of stolen pharmaceuticals. Feldman allegedly profited by almost $2 million from the illegal purchase and sale of stolen goods during 1998 and 1999.

Lyons' affidavit states that Florida authorities told him their investigation revealed Feldman used a "sophisticated method" of moving money, including wire transfers.

"Since in or about late 1999, federal and state investigators in Florida have attempted to locate the whereabouts of Jerome Howard Feldman," the affidavit states. "However, these efforts have been unsuccessful."

“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

Accused Organ Transplant Swindler Appears in Guam Federal Court

When considering traveling abroad for an organ transplant be sure to weigh all the consequences and risks before handing over your hard earned money to anyone. When death is staring us in the face and we are desperate for a life-saving transplant our judgment may be blinded by our will to live, but just look at what happened to this Canadian woman who was bilked out of $70,000.

By Kevin Kerrigan Pacific News Center

Friday, 20 March 2009 11:39

Guam - Jerome Howard Feldman appeared before District Court Judge Joaquin Manibusan Thursday after being arrested in Manila in February.
He was indicted in February in the State of New York on charges related to an alleged scheme to bilk thousands of dollars out of desperately ill patients seeking organ transplants.

Federal officials accuse Feldman of taking as much as 400-thousand dollars from victims who paid large sums of money and were promised that they would receive organ transplants in the Philippines.

Feldman admitted his identity before Judge Manibusan, and he will soon be transported to Syracuse New York to face the charges.

The investigation began last June when police in Dewitt New York received a complaint from a woman about an organ transplant broker. She said her husband was induced to pay 70-thousand dollars to the broker to receive a liver transplant in the Philippines. But after arriving at the designated hospital in the Philippines, he learned that nobody was expecting him and that the doctor he was told to see would not have performed the transplant. The husband died of liver failure at that Philippines hospital without ever receiving a transplant.

“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

Canadian Lung recipient supports bill to compensate living donors

Cornwall native breathes life into bill

Posted By DAVID NESSETH, STANDARD-FREEHOLDER

Alison Wilson is breathing easier, and wants organ donors to have the same liberty.

The 29-year-old Cornwall (Ontario) native, who turns 30 next month, recently underwent a double-lung transplant to battle cystic fibrosis, and is now supporting an Ontario bill tabled earlier this month to increase unpaid leave for people who donate a kidney, liver, lung, pancreas or small bowel.

"Before I was like a deflated hot-air balloon," Wilson said. "(My lungs) took forever to expand. But when the balloon's full of gas and rising, that's what it feels like now. The sky's the limit."

Earlier this month, local MPP Jim Brownell raised Wilson's struggle in the Legislature during the bill's discussion and has visited her while she was in Toronto hospitals before and after her Feb. 16 surgery.

"She is the kindest, most generous, and brave young woman," Brownell told the Standard-Freeholder. "I admire her spirit for life, and I think this comes from her battle with cystic fibrosis, and her desire to educate others."

Wilson was diagnosed with the disease at just two weeks of age. Her husband Derek Proulx is a former student of Brownell's.

Between 1996 and 2005, the number of adult lung transplants increased from 76 to 145, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

There have been 20 lung transplants in Ontario so far in 2009.

The goal of the new bill is to increase the number of people willing to donate organs and to reduce the lengthy wait lists potential recipients must endure, according to Labor Minister Peter Fonseca.

"Job-protected leave for living organ donors would provide support for those compassionate Ontarians who are giving the gift of life to others," said Fonseca as he tabled the bill.

"These are our friends and neighbors, our mothers and fathers and, all too often, our sons and daughters."

The bill could increase unpaid leave up to 13 weeks.

Patients could get an additional 13 weeks if a doctor felt they needed more time to recover.

Some 1,700 people in the province are currently waiting for an organ to be donated. Many have also died waiting.

Wilson was able to jump the queue of about 40 stage two patients for her surgery because the lungs were such a perfect match. She had only been waiting for about 45 days before a nurse poked her head into Wilson's room and announced, "We've got lungs!"

The lungs came from a young woman who died, Wilson said. She's not able to know much more than that.

"We can send thank you letters, but we can't say who we are," said Wilson, who plans to return to Cornwall after her three-month recovery period.

A double lung transplant usually takes about six to twelve hours to complete, but Wilson's took only five-and-a-half hours at Toronto General Hospital. The procedure is common for people with cystic fibrosis due to the bacterial colonization commonlyfoundwithinthepatients'lungs. If only one lung were transplanted, bacteria in the native lung could potentially infect the newly transplanted one.

The bill builds on the launch of the donor expense reimbursement program introduced in Ontario last year, following a pilot project in B. C. Donors are eligible for up to $5,500 in reimbursements for expenses such as meals, accommodations and travel through the government run Trillium Gift of Life Network.

Most notably, donors can also apply for a loss of income subsidy after surgery. It's up to a maximum of $3,200 and $400 per week, or 55 per cent of net earnings, depending on which is less.

According to a Gift of Life representative, about 200 people have applied for reimbursement since the option was introduced in April of 2008.

The families of Ontario residents waiting for an organ can also receive financial aid if forced to relocate to be near a hospital that can provide the operation when an organ becomes available.

"Trillium has been great for us," Wilson said.

CONTROVERSY

But the new bill to give donors more recovery time has its critics. NDP MPP Peter Kormos said the government can't produce one person who has been fired because they took time off work to donate an organ.

He said what is really needed is for the government to mandate informed consent, which would assume people are willing to donate their organs unless they expressly say otherwise.

Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Luxembourg, Norway and Denmark are just a sample of countries with a presumed consent model for organ donations.

"If you don't sign an organ donor card, don't expect to get an organ if you need it," Wilson said, echoing the sentiment of an Australian politician fighting for increased donations down under.

Other critics have argued that in-kind rewards for organ donation -such as a down payment on a house, a contribution to a retirement fund, or lifetime health insurance -would prompt more people to donate organs.

But Brownell says that line of thinking misses the point.

"People go into this knowing and desiring to make a difference in a life," he said. "The greatest reward is that difference. So I don't think in-kind rewards are expected or required. One human being's generosity to another is the greatest reward."

“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

MicroRNAs Provide Telltale Signature of Organ Rejection

Levels in blood and tissue identify kidneys under attack

It's very encouraging to see that researchers in organ transplantation are gradually making progress in the fight against organ rejection. Maybe, just maybe, someday it will be possible to detect the onset of rejection by a simple blood test and the use of anti-rejection drugs may no longer be necessary. I'm a strong advocate of organ transplant research because I know it has the potential to save many, many lives.

ScienceNews


Nobody likes rejection. For most people it means emotional distress, but for people with organ transplants, rejection could mean organ loss or even the loss of life.

Now scientists have found a signature of organ rejection that could help detect the disorder and treat it before transplanted organs sustain damage, the team reports online March 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers led by Manikkam Suthanthiran, a transplant physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, uncovered a pattern of microRNA levels that distinguishes healthy transplanted tissue from tissue undergoing acute rejection.

MicroRNAs are very short pieces of RNA about 20 units long. The molecules are small but mighty, regulating hundreds to thousands of genes by attaching to the messenger RNAs, or mRNAs, made by those genes. Some mRNAs are stabilized by their micro-partners to prevent breakdown. Others are slated for destruction. MicroRNAs may also prevent protein-building machinery from using the mRNA as a template until certain conditions are met.

Suthanthiran and his colleagues had previously identified two mRNAs in urine that reveal when a kidney is being rejected. But the method predicts rejection with only about 85 percent accuracy, Suthanthiran says. And mRNAs are notoriously fragile, breaking down easily. MicroRNAs, on the other hand, are far more stable and easy to work with, and their vast regulatory reach made them ideal candidates for markers of rejection.

In the new study, the researchers took blood from and biopsied patients with transplanted kidneys, both patients with healthy transplanted kidneys and patients whose transplanted kidneys were beginning to fail. The team found increased levels of three microRNAs — miR-142-5p, miR-155 and miR-223 — in purified white blood cells in people whose kidneys were being rejected. Biopsies showed that levels of three other microRNAs — miR-10b, miR-30a-3p and let-7c — decrease in kidney tissues during rejections.

Elevated levels of miR-142-5p, miR-155 and miR-223 probably indicate that immune cells are infiltrating the kidney and setting off inflammation and damage. Decreased levels of the other three microRNAs could indicate damage to the kidney cells, Suthanthiran says. The researchers hope in the future to detect the signature before organ damage occurs. They don’t yet know what the first step in the rejection process is — whether the kidney sends out a signal that invites immune cells in, or immune cells invade the kidney and sound an alarm when they recognize foreign tissue, he says.

Techniques such as the microRNA test in blood, and possibly in urine, may eventually help doctors detect rejection without the need for biopsies, says David Sachs, director of the Transplantation Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Researchers are also working on ways to help transplant patients’ bodies learn to tolerate new organs without the use of immune suppressing drugs, he says. MicroRNA profiles might help doctors track who is tolerating an organ well and who needs immune suppressors.

“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

American Society of Transplantation to Host Boston Pops and the Redford Family on May 30th to Raise Transplant Awareness

BOSTON, March 16 - /PRNewswire/ -- About 18 people die each day awaiting an organ transplant, but by raising awareness, the American Society of Transplantation (AST) hopes to lower this number. AST, a society dedicated to research, education and patient care in transplantation, is hosting Share the Beat, an inspirational evening of music and personal stories to benefit organ donation awareness and transplant research. Share the Beat, which premieres May 30, 2009, at Boston's Symphony Hall, will feature the Boston Pops with special guest appearances by liver recipient, James Redford and his father Robert Redford.

Share the Beat celebrates the hope in transplantation through music, inspiration and awareness. Composer John Williams, winner of multiple Academy Awards and Grammys, will conduct the Boston Pops. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies recently enlisted Williams to compose a new work that was played by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriels Montero and Clarinetist Anthony McGill.

Previous Share the Beat celebrations have been held in Atlanta; Omaha, Neb.; Sundance and Provo, Utah; and Los Angeles. Through the years, a committed group of performers have donated their time to Share the Beat. Friends and supporters include: Tim McGraw, Phil Vassar, Bo Bice, James Denton, Mariska Hargitay, Katherine Heigl, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the community to enjoy the music of the Boston Pops and to be inspired by the personal stories of those whose lives were affected by transplantation," said Barbara Murphy, M.D., AST's President. "In fact, James Redford, who founded Share the Beat, received a liver transplant in 1993 after suffering complications from ulcerative colitis and the Redford family remains committed to increasing transplant awareness," added Murphy.

Reserve Tickets Now

Tickets for Share the Beat are available at http://www.sharethebeat.org. The event begins at 8:00 p.m. on May 30, 2009 at Symphony Hall, located at 301 Massachusetts, Ave. in Boston. Proceeds will benefit the AST endowment, created to support in perpetuity the AST research grant portfolio, the training of transplant fellows and consensus conferences, and the Redford AnimAction Project, an educational outreach program for youth.

About AST

AST is an organization of transplant professionals dedicated to research, education, advocacy and patient care in transplantation science and medicine. The society comprises more than 2,800 transplant physicians, surgeons, scientists and allied health professionals. For more information. Visit http://www.a-s-t.org.

“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

Popcorn Workers Lung Victim, Wife Awarded $7.5 Million

Popcorn Lung is the name given for Bronchiolitis Obliterans that occurs in workers in factories that use diacetyl in the production of "buttery" popcorn. I understand that diacetyl is no longer being used but I think I'll stick with plain popcorn and real butter.

NewsInferno.com

A jury has ruled in favor of a plaintiff in a Popcorn Workers Lung lawsuit. According to The Associated Press, the federal jury in Iowa yesterday ordered a flavorings manufacturer to pay the victim - who died just a day before of complications from Popcorn Workers Lung - and his wife $7.5 million for causing his injuries.

Popcorn Workers Lung is a potentially life threatening ailment, for which the only cure is a lung transplant. The disease - also known as bronchiolitis obliterans - has been linked to diacetyl, a chemical used to give microwave popcorn and other snack foods a buttery flavor.

In 2003 and 2004, the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health found an association between diacetyl and the development of Popcorn Workers Lung among hundreds of workers at six Midwestern popcorn factories. In April 2007, the Centers for Disease Control reported that workers at food flavoring factories, as well as popcorn plants, were at risk for the disease.

Since the link between diacetyl and Popcorn Workers Lung was established, hundreds of stricken workers have filed lawsuits against flavorings manufacturers. According to The Associated Press, more than 300 other cases are pending around the country, and verdicts as high as $20 million have been awarded in previous cases.

According to The Associated Press, 69-year-old Ronald Kuiper and his wife had filed suit in 2006 against four companies that made popcorn flavoring used at the American Pop Corn Co. Kuiper had worked at American Pop Corn Co. in Sioux City as a butter flavor mixer since the 1990s, the Associated Press said. All of the companies, with the exception of Givaudan Flavors Corp. of Cincinnati, had resolved the Kuipers’ claims.

The Iowa jury agreed with the Kuipers that diacetyl from Givaudan Flavors’ butter flavoring had caused Ronald Kuiper’s illness. According to the Associated Press, Ronald Kuiper was awarded $2 million for future pain and suffering and $750,000 for past pain and suffering; $2 million for future loss of function of the mind and body and $750,000 for past loss of function of the mind and body; $500,000 for future medical expenses and $50,000 for past medical expenses. The jury also awarded $1 million for future loss of spousal consortium and $500,000 for loss of past spousal consortium to Ronald Kuiper’s wife.

“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

Two-time transplant recipient reaches out to a life-long friend who is in need

I know Julia Lyons personally and am very aware of the trials and tribulations she has gone through, already having two lung transplants and now waiting for a third. All due to the ravages of Cystic Fibrosis. On top of that, she is in dire financial circumstances and has to struggle even to pay for phone calls. My hope is that she will get her life-saving transplant soon and that benefactors will come forward to help her financially.

BY LAURA MACLEAN HUNTSVILLE FORESTER

When Carrissa Winger first met her friend Julia Lyons at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, she was green and Lyons was blue.

“We were both really sick, but we always had fun together,” says Winger, who at 26 has already had two liver transplants. “I think I was about 10 and she was a year younger. At the time we met, I remember feeling so bad for her family. I’d never heard of cystic fibrosis (CF). Julia would ask her mom, ‘Why is she green?’”

Winger, a Huntsville native, was born with a rare liver disease called billary atresia, which means she was born without bile ducts, which play a key role carrying bile from the liver to the gallbladder for storage and to the small intestine for use in digestion. She had her first major operation when she was just three weeks old and was around three months by the time she came home for the first time.

While she is able to lead a relatively normal, healthy life thanks to anti-rejectio medication she is required to take every day along with vitamins and regular monitoring of her blood, her friend Lyons doesn’t haveit so easy. CF is a heredity disease that affects the exocrine (mucus) glands of the lungs, liver, pancreas and intestines, causing progressive disability due to multisystem failure. There is no current cure for the disease, and amajority of individuals die young.

In fact, Lyons, who hails from Stratford, Ontario, is on a waiting list to become the first person in Canada to receive her third double-lung transplant. If the transplant is successful, she will make medical history.

Feeding tubes and oxygen tanks have become a way of life for the 25-year-old as she battles breathing problems associated with CF. The last time she had a double-lung transplant was when she was 20 and before that she had a transplant at age 11.

Winger is hoping to help Lyons in any way she can. She knows her best friend’s time is precious and that the family is financially strapped.

“Julia and I have this conversation all the time. If you have never had ice cream, you don’t know what ice cream tastes like. Being sick all the time… it’s hard for us to have friends who can understand what types of things we go through. Cystic fibrosis is a terminal illness. I think the oldest person with the disease lived until they were 45. Transplants give Julia five or six years, but it’s getting lesser and lesser. She’ll be on the waiting list for about six months.”

Winger is hoping that the Huntsville community will reach out to support her friend in her battle. Whether it be through donations or organizing a fundraiser, Winger feels compelled to help. The family faces extremely high medical bills and Lyons has chosen to live with her aunt in Pickering in order to be closer to Toronto General Hospital, where she undergoes treatment.

Winger wants to help raise awareness of CF and hopes to travel around to different schools one day, sharing her and her friend’s story and telling people about the importance of becoming organ donors.

She also stated it is a goal of hers and Lyon’s to write a book together on their
experiences in the hospital and how the two were able to find humor despite their situations.

“I just want to be able to help her,”Winger said. “I know the family has set up a trust fund for her in Stratford, but I’m hoping I can help them out here as well. In Canada, more people die waiting for transplants than the ones who actually receive them. Julia is so positive and she’s always concerned about everyone else. It doesn’t matter what’s wrong with her, she’ll call me asking, ‘How are you doing? How are you feeling?’

The risk is death. If she doesn’t have (the double lung transplant) she’s going to die. Right now, she can’t go anywhere without oxygen and she’s back on feeding tubes. I’ve got nothing on what she’s been through,” explained Winger.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Lyons family or to help Winger organize a fundraiser can call her at 705-789-8591 or e-mail her at sunnydisposition@hotmail.com.

“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

New Computer Models Successfully Link Donors And Kidney Transplant Patients

ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2009) — New computer models can now link strangers in a life-saving chain of kidney transplants, promising to increase the number of transplants and overcome obstacles posed by logistics or donors who renege, a team of researchers report in the current edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Designed to optimize the "matching market" principles involved in kidney transplantation, donor registry software programs sift through thousands of pairs of recipients and their living donors, analyze participant characteristics, then construct an optimal chain of transplant pairs, report the co-authors, many of whom helped pioneer the creation of donor chains.

For the approximately 70,000 U.S. patients in need of a kidney transplant, the data-driven approach to transplantation pairings should shrink the rolls of patients on waiting lists.

The donor chains start with a single "altruistic" volunteer donor.

"The Good Samaritan who comes forward to donate a kidney serves as the catalyst for a series of donations in a much more efficient system," says Boston College Assoc. Prof. M. Utku Unver, a theoretical economist. "It is not an easy decision to give up a kidney to help a stranger. These advances may encourage more donors because they now know they can save many lives."

The approximately 4,000 living donor kidney transplantations that take place in America each year rest upon a fragile balance of donors and recipients engaged in a "matching market" where volunteers provide life-saving organs without monetary compensation, says Unver, who has been examining kidney exchange for five years.

The computer-generated chains provide a viable alternative to the relatively new strategy of paired donation, where organs are exchanged between two donor-recipient pairs during simultaneous surgeries.

Paired donations are prone to breakdowns because a willing donor is not a compatible match, a recipient is too far away or a donor backs out of the extremely personal transaction.

Unver and his fellow researchers highlight a chain of kidney transplantations that started with a 28-year-old Michigan man in July of 2007 and led to 10 transplantations coordinated during 8 months by two large paired-donation registries, the 25-state Alliance for Paired Donation and Incompatible Kidney Transplantation Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The transplantations took place at six medical centers in five states. Three kidneys from living donors were shipped – two using commercial flights – rather than requiring donors to travel to the recipient's hospital.

The computer models assign values to the characteristics of donors and recipients stored in massive databases. The programs then generate pairings based on with similar scores, imposing an order on these exchanges by overcoming issues that disrupt a market

"Economists have been looking at solving the 'mechanism design' problem of paired donations by using data to increase efficiency," says Unver, whose early work on these models with fellow BC economist Tayfun Sonmez led to the founding of the New England Program for Kidney Exchange. "As work progressed, people began to see this was a way of overcoming the problems involved with paired donations."

Paired kidney donation surgeries are performed simultaneously to reduce the possibility of a donor backing out once a friend or relative has received a kidney.

A donation chain allows for greater flexibility, since not all surgeries must take place at the same time in the same hospital.

The researchers conclude further that kidney donor chains could shorten wait times on lists of unmatched patients in line for deceased-donor organs. The scope of the databases can pair these patients with suitable living donors, who account for approximately one-third of the 14,000 kidney transplantations that take place annually in the U.S.

Unver was joined by co-authors Michael A. Rees, M.D., Jonathan E. Kopke, Ronald P. Pelletier, M.D., Dorry L. Segev, M.D., Matthew E. Rutter, M.D., Alfredo J. Fabrega, M.D., Jeffrey Rogers, M.D., Oleh G. Pankewycz, M.D., Janet Hiller, Alvin E. Roth, Tuomas Sandholm, and Robert A. Montgomery, M.D.

------------

Note: Visit the following organizations for info on matching donors:

U.S.
Matching Donors
Alliance For Paired Donation

Canada
Living Donor Paired Exchange Registry

“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

Doing more lung transplants is better and safer

Toronto General Hospital, where I received my lung transplant 7 years ago, does about 100 lung transplants a year which certainly bodes well for optimal outcomes according to the findings presented here.

(Have an opinion on this article? Please enter your comments at the end of the post)

virtualmedicalcentre.com

Transplant surgeons at Johns Hopkins have evidence that hospitals performing at least 20 lung transplant procedures a year, on average, have the best overall patient survival rates and lowest number of deaths from the complex surgery.

Researchers say their latest findings, presented at the 45th annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in San Francisco, could serve as a patient safety benchmark or national standard for all hospitals to meet. The study is believed to be the first overall assessment since the procedure was perfected and widely adopted in the 1990s of how each of the 79 US and Canadian medical centres licensed to perform lung transplantation measure up.

Institutions performing 20 more lung transplants annually, the researchers say, see the chances of an organ recipient surviving the critical first month of recovery plateau, at over 95 percent. Chances of recipients surviving the first year post-surgery are practically the same, at 83 percent. The contrast is sharp for the three-quarters of hospitals performing significantly fewer lung transplants. Then, an organ recipient's chances of dying within the first month after surgery nearly doubles, dropping survival rates to 90 percent if the hospital performs two or less per year, and to 73 percent after one year.

This, researchers say, occurred despite lower-volume centres having less severely ill patients than higher-volume centres.

"Lung transplantation is an incredibly complex procedure, and our results show that the so-called 'centre-effect' is a very real phenomenon: Hospitals that do more, do them better," says study senior investigator and transplant surgeon Ashish Shah, MD, who has performed over 100 lung transplants in the past decade. "For best patient outcomes, you need the right staff operating at peak skill level, with patient support systems ingrained in both their clinical operations and their organisation's culture."

More than 1,400 lung transplants occurred in the United States in 2007, the last full year for which statistics are available. Thirty-nine percent of patients have survived for at least a year; 6 percent died within a month of surgery. Another 2,000 Americans remain on lung waiting lists, while 90 more are waiting for both a heart and lung.

Shah, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute, says lung transplantation is unlike other kinds of transplant surgery. The lungs are at increased risk of infection during the procedure because the organ is exposed to the outside air and potential bacteria. Recuperation also takes longer than with other types of organ transplant, such as kidney, with patients often spending up to a week in post-surgical intensive care, plus many more months of specialised physical therapy.

The actual surgery, he points out, can cost US$150,000 to US$300,000 and involves a team of roughly 20 specially trained personnel, such as surgeons, an anaesthesiologist, critical care specialists, many specially trained nurses, physical, respiratory and speech therapists, and dietitians.

As part of the latest analysis, researchers reviewed 10,494 patient records for all single-lung and double-lung transplants performed in the United States and Canada from 1998 to 2007. The data came from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a national network that allocates donated organs across the country.

"Our findings do not mean that only high-volume centres should perform lung transplantation," says lead study investigator Eric Weiss, MD, a postdoctoral research fellow in cardiac surgery at Hopkins

"But it does mean that patients should consider consistently high volumes when evaluating their choices of where to have their transplant done, and it does mean that lower-volume centres really do need to learn from the higher-volume hospitals, taking a careful look at what they are doing right to raise their survival rates and lower a recipient's chances of dying or suffering complications from surgery," says Weiss.

Weiss also performed a similar analysis of the centre-volume effect in heart transplants, presented at the same meeting held last year.

"Our hope is that this evidence will be useful in establishing budgets and staffing objectives so that low-volume centres, too, can steadily improve their patient outcomes in lung transplantations," says Shah.

(Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions: 45th annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons: March 2009)

“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

Journal of American College of Surgeons finds lung transplantation should be used in older patients

The traditional protocol has been no lung transplants for patients older than 65, but as this study shows, there's no reason to deny potential transplant candidates a second chance at life just because they're older. Many centers now assess each potential candidate on an individual basis and I know several older recipients who were given a "second chance" and they're doing just fine. Thanks go to those transplant centers who are willing to raise the bar and save more lives.

(Have an opinion on this article? Please enter your comments at the end of the post)

Study supports use in appropriate candidates under the age of 70

EurekAlert!

CHICAGO (March 10, 2009) – New research published in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons suggests that lung transplantation should be used with caution in patients older than 60 years and that the procedure is associated with high rates of mortality after one year in patients 70 and older.

Lung transplantation has been the gold-standard treatment for a variety of end-stage lung diseases, but candidate selection varies greatly among transplantation centers. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) reports that since 1985 the percentage of older patients receiving lung transplantation has increased steadily, with 24 percent of recipients in 2006 being older than age 60. This trend has raised concerns among transplant centers, since there is no consensus on potential age limits for the operation.

"These data underscore the importance of carefully considering age among potential lung transplantation recipients," said Eric S. Weiss, MD, division of cardiac surgery, The John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD. "Although age is only one of many important criteria, advanced age appears to have a major impact on post-surgical mortality. Our findings suggest that lung transplantation remains a viable option for appropriate candidates younger than age 70."

This new research study in JACS expands on previous findings reported by Dr. Weiss and colleagues. In October 2007 (93rd annual Clinical Congress Congress of the American College of Surgeons), Dr. Weiss reported that lung transplants improved survival rates in patients over 60 years of age. In this previous study the Johns Hopkins researchers looked at factors that create positive results in a 60-plus patient population, which has typically been regarded as not being the best candidates for lung transplantation. Upon analyzing patient outcomes, the researchers found that the survival rates between older and young patients were not all that different, especially at the 30-day survival period, and they concluded that this elderly patient population should not be categorically excluded from being offered the procedure as a treatment option. In the study just released in JACS, the researchers are able to make more specific recommendations for patients in the 60 to 70-years of age range, and beyond.

This new retrospective study examined 8,363 adult patients who underwent lung transplantation between 1999 and 2006. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database provided the data, which was stratified into four quartiles (Q) of age: Q1, 18 to 45 years; Q2, 46 to 55 years; Q3, 56 to 60 years; Q4, 61 to 79 years. Patients in Q4 were further examined in smaller increments of age to assess differences in outcomes among the oldest groups of transplant recipients.

Patients in all four age quartiles had similar 30-day and 90-day mortality rates, but patients in Q4 experienced the highest mortality rates at 1-year post-transplant (21.4 percent, p=0.002). Of the 57 patients identified as 70 or older, 34 percent of the patients died during the study period. Additionally, both the 90-day and the 1-year mortality rates of the 70 years or older cohort was significantly higher than those patients under 70 (27 percent versus 9 percent for 90 day; and 42 percent versus 18 percent for 1 year; p<0.001 for both comparisons).

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 74,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit http://www.facs.org.

“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

Car Wash Benefit Held For Girl Needing Lung Transplant

Organ transplants pose a large financial burden on recipients and their families and there's no end of ways to help them. This car wash shows how one community chipped in to help and is a fine example of the initiatives and fund raising ideas that we can come up with.

Boynton Beach HS Students Help Raise Money

From WPBF-TV

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Dozens of people took part in a charity car wash in Boynton Beach on Saturday to help a local high school student who is in need of a transplant.

Classmates, teachers and complete strangers grabbed a bucket and rag to help Kaiya Castillo.

“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

"Well, we heard about Kaiya through the school nurse," said Brandi Girtman, of Boynton Beach Community High School. "I mentioned it to the kids, and the kids just wanted to help."


Girtman said Castillo needs a double lung transplant to survive, and that could cost more than $500,000.

The 14-year-old couldn't be at the fundraiser because she's back in a hospital, but she had plenty of love from fellow students.

"We really love you," student Jessica White said. "Our whole school is rooting for you. Just get well and come back to school please."

The Boynton Beach High School student was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis -- a chronic lung disease -- when she was 5 months old. She has had to endure countless hospital stays and medical procedures.

Students from Boynton Beach Community High School sponsored a car wash benefit to try to offset transplant-related expenses.

"Good luck, Kaiya," a volunteer said. "I hope we raise enough money so you can get well soon."

Her story of survival has touched a lot of people, especially Crystal Haneef and her 8-year-old daughter, Zakeria.

"When we found out about her story, my daughter wanted to help," Haneef said. "She asked me if something could happen to her, and I told her something could if she didn't get what she needed. She was like, 'I don't want anything to happen to her. What can we do to help?'"

They hope that by helping they will set an example for others and let a complete stranger know people care.

The Boynton Beach Community High School student council will also host a student versus teacher dodgeball tournament March 20 in the gym from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for $5 a person.

For more information, contact the school at 561-752-1526.

Bridge-to-transplant trial may offer hope for heart transplant candidates

I'm pleased to post this press release from Terumo Heart, Inc. on their clinical trial for the DuraHeart (TM) Left-Ventricular Assist System. Initiatives such as this may someday offer hope to patients at risk of death while waiting for a heart transplant.

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Terumo Heart, Inc. today announced that NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center recently became the second U.S. center, and first in the Northeast, to implant the DuraHeart(TM) Left-Ventricular Assist System as part of the DuraHeart Bridge-To-Transplant U.S. pivotal trial, a multi-center, prospective, non-randomized study, involving 140 patients in up to 40 centers nationwide. The trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the device in helping to sustain patients awaiting heart transplant who are at risk of death due to end-state left ventricular failure.

The medical team led by Yoshifumi Naka, M.D., Ph.D., director of cardiac transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and associate professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, elected to implant the DuraHeart(TM) System using an "off-pump" procedure, allowing him to operate directly on the beating heart, thus reducing the risk for perioperative bleeding and stroke associated with having a patient on bypass.

"We are pleased to be a part of this landmark trial evaluating this third-generation mechanical heart pump, one of the first of its kind to enter clinical trials in the U.S.," said Dr. Naka, who serves as co-principal investigator of the DuraHeart Trial.

"It is extremely gratifying for us to count Dr. Naka's team among those elite institutions who are investigating Terumo Heart's DuraHeart System and building the empirical body of evidence to support the eventual U.S. approval of this important device," said Chisato Nojiri, M.D., Ph.D., Chairperson and Chief Medical Officer, Terumo Heart, Inc. "As a company, we are committed to investing in the resources that will ultimately deliver the most advanced left-ventricular assist device available to help patients retain a healthy and meaningful quality of life while awaiting a heart transplant or ultimately as a long-term solution to a failing heart."

The DuraHeart Trial is sponsored by Terumo Heart, Inc., maker of the DuraHeart System and a wholly owned subsidiary of Terumo Corporation. The DuraHeart System is the first third-generation rotary blood pump designed for long-term patient support that incorporates a centrifugal flow rotary pump with an active magnetically levitated impeller featuring three position sensors and magnetic coils that optimize blood flow, while minimizing device wear and tear. The DuraHeart System carries a CE Mark and is currently available for sale outside of the United States. Additionally, the company has completed trial enrollment for this device in Japan.

The DuraHeart System features a small pump that is implanted in a pocket created in the abdomen. When the pump is activated, the impeller position is precisely controlled by the electromagnets and sensors to keep it centered within the blood chamber. Permanent magnets couple the impeller to the motor so when the motor spins, it causes the impeller to rotate and pump blood from the heart to the body. In its weakened state, the heart is not strong enough to supply sufficient blood for normal activities. The DuraHeart supplements the natural flow by pumping blood from the left ventricle to the aorta, increasing total flow to normal levels.

About Heart Failure

More than 22 million people suffer from heart failure worldwide with approximately one million new patients diagnosed annually. In the setting of an aging global population, heart failure is the number one reason for hospitalization. The most severely ill patients need heart transplants in order to recover. More than 8,000 people worldwide are on the list of eligible candidates for heart transplants annually, but less than 4,000 will receive a transplant each year. A large number of people who suffer from severe heart failure do not qualify for transplantation due to other health issues. An alternative for these patients is access to artificial mechanical assist devices. Left Ventricular Assist Systems (LVAS) are a type of mechanical circulatory device specifically designed to improve the lives of patients waiting for donor hearts, as well as those who are ineligible for a heart transplant.

About Terumo Heart, Inc.

Terumo Heart, Inc. is a U.S. subsidiary of Terumo Corporation with headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company's focus is the innovation and introduction of products to improve the quality of healthcare for heart failure patients. Terumo Corporation, located in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading developer, manufacturer and global marketer of a wide array of medical products. DuraHeart is limited to investigational use only in the United States, and is CE marked in Europe.

SOURCE Terumo Heart Inc

“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