Medical Advances Offer More Successful Kidney Transplants

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Medical Advances Offer More Successful Kidney Transplants
Perfect Match No Longer Necessary

POSTED: 12:52 pm EST January 8, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS -- Most people don't look forward to surgery, but an Indianapolis mother of five is eager to undergo a lifesaving operation.

"I just can't wait, very excited," said Cora Turner, 36.

Turner, whose mother and sister died from kidney disease, has waited three years for a kidney transplant.

Searching for a donor wasn't easy. Family members didn't match.

But hope arrived Jan. 27, 2006, when Cora's husband came home on leave from Iraq with a fellow soldier who was willing to donate a kidney. But he wasn't a match either.

"A lot of emotions, you know, run freely whenever you think you have a match and you think you have the situation solved, but you're back to square one,” said Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Turner of the Indiana National Guard.

On Monday, Cora checked into Indianapolis' Methodist Hospital with her husband and donor by her side.

"Brandon is a wonderful guy. He's my ex-husband's wife's son," Turner said.

Brandon McCorkle, 26, heard his mother talking with Cora on the phone and offered his kidney without hesitation.

"My mom is married to her ex-husband. Kind of different, huh?" he smiled.

Not any more, doctors say.

"Brandon isn't a perfect match, but we're going to make it work,” Turner told 6News Staying Healthy reporter Stacia Matthews as Turner settled into her hospital room.

Turner received the last of five pre-surgery treatments called plasmapheresis, a technique that washes away antibodies to allow Turner's body to better accept the new organ.

Doctors hope more donors will be attracted to transplants because they are now done through laparoscopic surgery.

"Now friends, spouses, neighbors, somebody that sits two pews up from church may want to donate and the laparoscopic technique has allowed that to happen," said Dr. Brian Haag, Turner's surgeon.

"If it was my mom, I'd want someone to do it for her. So it just seemed like the right thing to do," Brandon McCorkle said as he completed his pre-surgery exam.

For Turner, a transplant was the only option. The mom of five boys feared years of dialysis would take a toll on her body and end her life years before her time.

"A transplant will help me raise my children, see my grandchildren, so we're very excited," Turner said. "Thank you (Brandon) for saving my life."

Tuesday afternoon, doctors reported that the transplant was a success.

More Info: www.iopo.org -- organ donations
www.donatelifeindiana.org -- register to become a donor

http://www.theindychannel.com/health/15003194/detail.html