Wife Donates Kidney To Ailing Husband

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Wife Donates Kidney To Ailing Husband
By Rusty Garrett
Times Record • rgarrett@swtimes.com

LAVACA — The reaction of Shelly Beshoner to the news that her husband, Lavaca Police Chief Phil Beshoner, was losing his kidney function was immediate.

“I told him, ‘I’m going to donate,’” she said.

Her husband was approaching kidney failure as a result of polycystic kidney disease, a condition in which numerous cysts grow on the kidneys.

Phil Beshoner was diagnosed with the disease, which tends to run in families, about two years ago. “My father had it. He died in 1988,” he said.

While he said the condition did not cause him severe pain, it left him fatigued and bloated; over the past six months he found himself unable to enjoy his diversions of woodworking, target shooting and working in the yard. “I was just worn out,” he said.

He also feared the prospect of dialysis. He said doctors had already inserted a fistula to accommodate the procedure. And he was familiar with the treatment that was waiting for him unless his liver health improved.

Still, the prospect of his wife’s offering to donate a kidney to him seemed far-fetched.

It moved a step closer to possibility when the couple learned they shared the same blood type, an important qualifier for compatible donors.

Diane Richards, living donor coordinator at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said instances of spouses donating an organ are much more common that one would think.

Donors related by blood — a child and parent or sibling — are the most common, but it is not rare for husbands and wives or close friends to offer and meet the criteria for donation.

A third category — the altruistic donor — is an individual unknown to the recipient who simply wants to help someone with their donation.

Richards said organ donations from deceased donors account for about half.

Deceased donations are valuable in helping meet the numbers of recipients on UAMS’ portion of the Arkansas waiting list — currently about 140 to 150.

UAMS, which performed its first transplant in 1964, is one of three transplant centers in Arkansas. All are in Little Rock. The university center performs 70 to 80 transplants in a typical year.

“Having living donors,” Richards said, “opens the opportunity for those who don’t have a living donor to receive help.”

As doctors continued to put Shelly through the multiple tests required of a potential donor, the couple researched the procedure. They incorporated some lifestyle changes. Phil Beshoner dropped his caffeine and salt intake in an attempt to lower his blood pressure, an important factor in preventing kidney failure.

Shelly said she too began to eat a more healthy diet and exercise. “I knew I had to be in good shape,” she said.

She said during that time she also found herself having to fight off mounting fear.

“It was very scary,” she said, admitting to an intense dislike for needles.

The couple credit the staff of UAMS Health Center for preparing them for the ordeal. They said the Little Rock facility offered classes for donors, recipients and their families, introducing them to the trials of a transplant. UAMS staff told them about the financial and emotional aspects of dealing with the procedure and its aftermath as well as the medical implications.

“They treat you just like family,” Shelly said.

Richards, who has been working as UAMS living donor coordinator for just more than three years, said “we have a lot of good support here.”

She said she came to work in transplants after 16 years of cancer nursing. “I felt I needed a change of focus, and had a good friend in transplant,” she said. “I feel like I am helping someone to a better life.”

Richards said an essential part of the transplant is a psychosocial evaluation of the recipient. The need for a total support system is emphasized, she said. “They need a primary caregiver, transportation, a reliable telephone. We also check their finances to make sure after the transplant the cost of their anti-rejection medicines are covered,” she said.

They said UAMS allowed them to work with local physicians and local labs to minimize the number of trips from Lavaca to Little Rock.

The transplant surgery took place on Feb. 17.

“When I woke up, I felt better than I had in 15 years,” Phil Beshoner said.

“I didn’t,” Shelly said. She said she had no regrets, but adds, “It hurts. I’m not going to lie about it.”

Shelly checked out of the hospital Feb. 19. Phil Beshoner returned home the next day.

Three weeks after the operation, both say things are progressing. Shelly’s kidney immediately went to work and is functioning normally. Shelly said she is managing well on a single kidney and recovering from the discomfort and the restrictions imposed after the surgery.

They both were ordered not to drive until recently. Doctors cautioned them against lifting anything heavier than 10 pounds. Phil Beshoner has been cleared for light duty at the police department. Shelly has another two weeks of leave remaining before she goes back to work at Rheem.

Phil Beshoner is taking numerous medications — anti-virals, anti-rejection meds and more. He said the dosage is checked every two weeks and has gone down some. Doctors tell him the scar from his surgery will take a year to heal.

Beshoner will be taking some form of anti-rejection medicine “for the whole life of his kidney,” Richards said.

She stressed that a kidney transplant does not involve a treatment or cure for the disease that may have caused failure.

“If someone has diabetes or high blood pressure, that will not go away,” Richards said.

She said historically, a transplanted living kidney averages another 12 to 15 years of use. Those from a deceased donor last about half that time. However, some have given recipients as much as 30 to 40 years of use.

“It depends on how you care for it,” she said.

The couple say they have been humbled by the sympathy and care given them not by family members, friends and co-workers. Shelly said perhaps more impressive are help and expressions by “people you wouldn’t think even know about your situation.”

“You don’t know how blessed you are until you’re down on your back,” Phil Beshoner said.

Beshoner calls the time between his diagnosis and the transplant “a two-year journey.” Part of that trip included a heightened awareness of kidney disease and treatment. Both Beshoners welcomed a chance to talk about their experience as a chance to share some of that information.

Some statistics Beshoner shares include:

• An estimated 11.5 percent of adults aged 20 or older have physiological evidence of chronic kidney disease.

• The disease that caused his kidney failure trails far behind other causes, such as diabetes and hypertension.

• The number of kidney transplants has increased from 3,785 in 1980 to 18,052 in 2006.

• The 2006 total included 11,576 fro deceased donors, 4,000 from a living related donor and 824 from a spouse or life partner.

• In 2006, there were 354,754 U.S. residents with end-stage renal disease receiving dialysis.

• In 2008, 77,675 people were awaiting a kidney transplant.

http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2010/03/15/news/news031215_01.txt