Giving a kidney to a stranger

Giving a kidney to a stranger
March 29, 2007

By Mary Jimenez
maryjimenez@gannett.com

Ask and you shall receive.

At least Shreveporter Pamela Moss and others who need a new organ can hope.

Moss has placed an ad on a billboard on Line Avenue pleading: "Please Help Save My Life! Donate a Kidney."

More than 50 responses have come from the advertisement, which has been up since mid-March.

"Dialysis is no way to live; it's just temporary fix for a very chronic illness," said the 41-year-old mother. "I'm ready to get on with my life."

There are more than 74,518 people in the United States on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, based on data Wednesday from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

Of those, 1,363 are in Louisiana. There 250 on the Willis-Knighton Health System/LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport Regional Transplant Center waiting list.

Nineteen thousand people who need a kidney have been waiting more than three years.

Moss and others who need organs like kidneys and livers hope living donors — related or not — will step forward.

And many have.

From 1988 — the earliest data available from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network — to 2006, the percentage of living donors has increased from 20 percent of all kidney transplants to 37 percent. During that same period, the number of U.S. kidney transplants has doubled and the number of living donors has increased by 3.5 fold. The number of non-related living donors, excluding spouses, has been more than 100 annually since 2004.

It's an excellent solution to bring those waiting list numbers down, said Robin Roth, living donor coordinator for the Regional Transplant Center. "It happens more often than people think. Transplants have come such a long way.

"A living donor goes through an extensive amount of tests, and there's usually not a problem," Roth said. "We make sure it's in the best interest of both the donor and recipient. It won't serve anyone if we take a kidney from someone who will need it later."

The transplant center performed 40 transplants in 2006, including 11 from living donors, a figure nowhere close to where the center would like it to be.

"We would like to reach a goal of performing two living donor transplants a week," said Roth, who believes it can be done. "It's an incentive and our program is really kicking off. We have more doctors than we've ever had. We have three transplant surgeons and one full-time nephrologist. That helps. And we have an excellent quality of care."

Living donations are considered the best option for patients and have many advantages.

"One is it works much quicker because it's warm and that means less chance of rejection," Roth said. "The years of life of the organ from a living donor is usually better, too; about 12 years compared to 10.

"But you never know, there are so many factors. I do have one patient who has a kidney 28 years old he got from his mother."

Advances in surgical techniques also have shortened recovery time. A two- to three-day hospital stay is not unusual for a donor.

"It's almost a totally different surgery now," Roth said.

While related donors still make up the largest percentage of living donors, non-related donors and even strangers have come forward. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data show that more than 100 non-related living donors (excluding spouses) have given a kidney each year since 2004.

Roth is working with two such prospective donors for Betty Nelson of Monroe, a teacher who has end-stage renal disease.

Houston resident Alma Hollins Washington, a former Monroe resident, read Nelson's story recently on The News-Star Web site (www.thenewsstar.com).

"I thought, 'Here's a lady who has been giving herself to these special kids,'" Washington said. "You know, it takes talent and patience to work with kids, and now she needs something. I was amazed by her story. All of a sudden, I just started typing."

The other potential donor, who wishes to remain anonymous for now, has a relative who has benefited from an organ transplant. She believes that if it had not been for the generosity of another family, her loved one might not have lived.

Washington said her decision to donate is about faith. "Whether it is a relative or not, if it's in you to help, you help each other. You leap out in faith."

Roth knew Moss was going to put up the billboard and braced herself. "We got bombarded with calls," said Roth, who encouraged Moss to pursue her quest for a donor any way she could.

"She was tired, and I've watched her depression grow. It's not easy for her to be on dialysis four hours a day, three times a week."

Putting up a billboard may sound unusual, but it can work, Roth added. "Once I can weed through all the calls and find the legitimate offers, there may be a donor there.

"Cross matching has come a long way. And the rejection medications are much better for the recipient."

For Moss, this would the second time around if she finds a match. Living with diabetes for 23 years led up to her first transplant in 1998.

"I received a kidney and a pancreas, but the kidney went kaput two years ago. The pancreas has worked like a charm and even got rid of my diabetes," said Moss, who has a list of dreams unfulfilled.

"I'd like to start a new business and I'd like to travel. I also have an interest in keeping up with the donor program and helping other people get a kidney."

Moss said the billboard will stay up as long as it's necessary to find a donor.

"I'm very happy I did it. I've had a lot of wonderful people call and offer their story," said Moss, who hopes it also will raise awareness about the living donor program. "Some people said if they aren't a match for me, they would still like to donate. So the billboard may help someone else, too."

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RELATED LINKS
U.S. transplant registry: www.ustransplant.org
Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency: www.lopa.org
Regional Transplant Center: www.wkhs.com/rtc/
Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network: www.optn.org
National Kidney Foundation Living Donors: www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingDonors/index.cfm

WHO MAKES A GOOD LIVING DONOR?
A living donor should be willing to donate, physically fit, in good general health and free of high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, kidney or heart disease.

WHAT TO EXPECT
Donors will be given a number of tests, including: blood type, tissue typing (about 150 different kinds), cross matching, antibody screening, urine tests, X-rays, 3-D Cat scan, psychiatric and physiological evaluations, gynecological exam and final blood test.
Living donors can designate whon they want to give their kidney to. If they don't have a designee, the kidney will be matched locally first. If no match is found, a suitable recipient will be sought regionally then nationally. Many factors are considered each time a kidney becomes available Candidates are matched to kidneys based on such factors as blood group (A, B, 0, AB), tissue type, length of time on waiting list and medical condition.
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