kgw news info on kidney transplant

Kidney transplants are not often front page news anymore. Some 17,000
procedures are performed every year. But it was a very different
story back in 1959, when two Oregon sisters made history with their
transplant operation.

The Hamilton twins would undergo the first organ transplant on the
West Coast. The kidney recipient, Charlene Hamilton, passed away in
December of 2010 of unrelated health issues. At the time she was one
of the longest living kidney recipients in history. Largely thanks to
her sister Charlotte Hamilton, now Charlotte Cottle.

Charlotte and Charlene Hamilton were born identical twins, but you
wouldn't have known that by looking at them. From the time they were
born, Charlene was the tiny twin, often too sick to play or go to
school. Charlene suffered from a life-threatening disease called
acute glomerulonephritis. By the time the girls were twelve it was
clear that Charlene needed a kidney transplant to survive.

Blood tests and skin grafts were performed at Oregon Health Sciences
University to confirm that Charlotte was a perfect match. But there
were ethical questions. Was it fair to ask a healthy 12-year- old to
undergo a risky operation to save her sister's life?

"It had to be my decision," Charlotte remembers. "It couldn't be what
my mother wanted or what my father thought I should do."

Before she could make up her mind Charlotte told doctors that she
needed to have a better understanding of what it would be like.

"I wanted to have a tour of where I would have the operation and find
out how long it would be." Charlotte said, "Not only was I concerned
about me, but I was worried about what Charlene would have to go
through, too."

There were also legal issues to consider. The girls were minors and
there had never been an organ transplant on the West Coast and only
18 in the world. The family would have to go to court for the
transplant to go forward.

Dr. John Barry headed up OHSU's kidney transplant program from 1976
until 2009.

"The parents came forward and said look, if the well twin is not
allowed to donate and save the life of the sick twin, then we think
the well twin will be forever psychologically damaged," said Dr. Barry.

The historic operation took place at OHSU on October 9, 1959. Film
from the KGW archives shows the Hamilton family at a press conference
the day of the operation. There is also an interview with Dr. Joseph
Murray who flew in from Boston to head up one of the transplant teams.

"The operation took about 4 hours and at this point both twins are
doing very well," Dr. Murray told reporters afterwards. The girls
recovered quickly. Charlene had weighed only 45 pounds at the time of
the surgery. By a year after the surgery, the girls were the same
size for the first time. The girls would go on to celebrate
birthdays, new babies and anniversaries together.

Charlotte says she always knew how grateful Charlene was. "She was
always happy to see me and so thankful that I gave her the gift of
life, that's what she would always say, the gift of life."

With her sister's passing Charlotte says she has reflected on that
monumental decision she made at the age of 12, and each time she
comes to the same conclusion.

"If I had to do it over again," she says, "I would, regardless of
anything