Spurred by letter carrier's kindness

NORTHWESTERN | Spurred by letter carrier's kindness
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September 23, 2010
BY MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporter mjthomas@suntimes.com
Arlene Hoffman was Jane Delimba's postal carrier for only about three months. But when Hoffman bumped into Delimba at a Wal-Mart seven years later and learned she needed a kidney transplant, Hoffman didn't hesitate to offer one of her own.
The two weren't a compatible match.
Still, Hoffman's generosity helped make it possible for four people, including Delimba, to receive kidney transplants last week in what's known as a "four-way paired exchange."
In simultaneous operations that took place last Thursday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, four living donors each gave up a kidney, and four people whose kidneys were failing each got one. All eight patients, ranging in age from 28 to 74, are doing well.
Northwestern's transplant team looked for pairs where a kidney donor and the intended recipient were incompatible but matched another donor and recipient in the same situation.
Hoffman and Delimba, both of Schaumburg, fit the bill. So did Yvonne Foster and her 74-year-old grandmother Ineasie P. Lacefield, of Park Forest. Foster agreed to give a kidney to Delimba, when she learned that Lacefield would get one from Alfonso Holguin, whose wife Oralia also needed a kidney. Oralia Holguin, in turn, received a kidney from Jahmilla Sims, of Roseland, whose mother Elizabeth Sims got Hoffman's kidney as part of the swap.
On Wednesday, the four transplant recipients learned the identity of their donor for the first time. Some hugged with tears in their eyes, while others clasped hands and said, "Thank you."
When Hoffman, 54, was asked why she would give a kidney to someone on one of her old mail routes, she shrugged, nodded to Delimba and said, "She needed it."
"Arlene's just got that personality," Delimba said. "We clicked from the first time we met. It was a bond that just kept on going."
Delimba said meeting her donor, Yvonne Foster, "gave me chills," and she looks forward to traveling and not having to get time-consuming dialysis treatments anymore after seven years.
Elizabeth Sims, too, was excited about the future, now that she has a healthy kidney.
"I feel blessed that all of us were able to come out of this like we did," the 58-year-old said. "I like the way God put us all together like this."

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/2738740,CST-NWS-transplant23.article