South Florida kids face tense wait for organs

South Florida kids face tense wait for organs
Mom's desperation highlights scarcity

BY BOB LaMENDOLA

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

May 26, 2008
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Dyman Hicks should be running, playing, learning arithmetic, and growing big and strong. That's what 7-year-olds do.

Instead, the Lauderhill first-grader lies in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami recuperating from her second major kidney surgery, trying to survive with no kidneys and praying someone will donate an organ.

"I need to save my daughter's life, but I can't do it," said Dyman's mother, Cynthia Jones, 33, who herself needs dialysis for a different kidney disease. "I need to find someone who is willing to be a match. Anybody, anybody, anybody. I'm a desperate mom."

Dyman's plight shines a light on the need for people to sign up as organ donors, her mother said, and to have themselves tested to see if they might be a match to donate an organ to someone in need.

Dyman is one of 29 South Florida children in line for a kidney, and among 1,065 South Floridians waiting for organ transplants. About 100 die waiting every year.

The shortage of organs for transplants is sharper among blacks and Hispanics because the need is greater, said organ donation officials in South Florida and nationally.

While those groups donate as often as the overall population, black and Hispanic patients make up a relatively high proportion of people waiting for transplants because they suffer more from diseases that can lead to organ failure. Inherited biological factors make it more likely for patients to find a matching organ from their own ethnic or racial groups.

"About half of the donated kidneys in the country come from live donors," said Dr. David Levi, a surgeon in the University of Miami organ transplant program. "The vast majority come from relatives. [From strangers] it's more difficult but it's doable."

Dyman was an infant when she developed renal dysplasia, a condition in which the kidneys do not filter out all the body's wastes from the bloodstream. She was very sick until age 3, when she received two transplanted kidneys from a teenage boy who had died.

Quick with a smile and a bundle of energy — a "whippersnapper," her mother says — Dyman was doing fine and making friends at Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary. Then about a year ago, her body started rejecting the kidneys.

Already tiny, Dyman lost 10 of her 45 pounds and grew weaker over the past year. On Monday, doctors had to remove the rejected kidneys, leaving her no option but being hooked to a dialysis machine three days a week.

"She could go on that way for a time, but her quality of life is not going to be as good as if she had a transplant," said Dr. Jayanthi Chandar, Dyman's pediatric kidney specialist at the University of Miami medical school.

Jones, a single mom who lives on disability, said people may not be aware of the pressing need for organ donations or that they can save a life.

"It is possible. It is within their power," Jones said. "They don't know they can do this, but they can."

Bob LaMendola can be reached at blamendola@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4526 or 561-243-6600, ext. 4526.

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