Kidney recipient thanks donors for special holiday gift exchange

[Jenna's transplant hospital!!]

Kidney recipient thanks donors for special holiday gift exchange

By PAUL SISSON - psisson@nctimes.com | Posted: Friday, December 18, 2009 7:55 pm

Duwayne Fleming said he had trouble sleeping the first night after receiving his new kidney ---- after three years of the constant rhythmic hum of his peritoneal dialysis machine, there was silence, and that was not easy to take.

"You go into a bit of a panic," Fleming said. "But on the second night I got used to the silence, and I got some good sleep."

On Tuesday, the 68-year-old Fleming participated in San Diego County's first three-way kidney swap, which took place at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla. Fleming received a kidney from an anonymous donor, while his step-daughter ---- who Fleming said he considers his daughter ---- gave one of her kidneys to a recipient she had never met.

Cross-matching kidney donors and recipients is a growing trend in American medicine as more and more hospitals that perform organ transplants turn to national databases to connect folks across family lines. The process works when a recipient has a willing donor who isn't an exact match, but whose kidney can be used for another patient who also has a donor to bring to the table.

In Fleming's case, he couldn't receive his daughter's kidney because they had different blood types.

In a series of six surgeries early this week ---- four performed Tuesday and two more on Wednesday ---- Scripps transplant surgeons, nurses and technicians completed a three-way relay of kidney transplants that included Fleming.

Dr. Christopher Marsh, Scripps chief of transplant surgery, said Friday that all six patients ---- the donors and recipients ---- are recovering well.

"Many of them are going home today, and maybe one or two will go home tomorrow," Marsh said.

Laying in his hospital bed Friday, Fleming, a semi-retired Realtor from Vacaville, said the leapfrog nature of the process does not make the gift feel any less personal.

He said he will feel the direct connection to his daughter, and to all three donors, in every night of peaceful sleep.

"She was not donating to somebody else, she was donating to me, I just couldn't use her kidney," Fleming said. "Even though I didn't get her kidney, I got her kidney."

The donors have decided to maintain their anonymity, so Fleming said he will probably never know who helped him. He said that kidneys from living donors can last as long as 25 years, much longer than one harvested from a cadaver.

"In essence, somebody just gave me 25 more years of life," he said. "Actually it wasn't just somebody, there are three of them. So thanks to all three."

Marsh said Scripps is already working on its next multiple-donor kidney exchange.

"We're definitely working on it, but it kind of depends on how everything lines up," Marsh said. "Sometimes the testing will rule out one or two of the potential donors at the last minute."

Call staff writer Paul Sisson at 760-901-4087.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_3b150840-bded-50e2-a827-47119aa7ae7f.html