Story of kidney donation to be aired on TV Jan. 4

[okarol]

Story of kidney donation to be aired on TV Jan. 4

By Mardi Suhs, Cadillac News
Dec. 29, 2006

CADILLAC - “Three pairs of complete strangers try to save each other's lives. Six Americans from across the country take part in a high-risk and high stakes ‘triple kidney exchange' that could save - or end - the lives of three of them.”

That is how the promotion reads for the Discovery Channel's airing of a live surgery performed at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Former Cadillac resident Karen Holstrom is one of the six people on the table during that surgery after volunteering to donate one of her healthy kidneys to a complete stranger.

Holstrom, a healthy athlete who had never undergone surgery before, was determined to give away her healthy kidney after reading an article about Good Samaritan kidney donors. The article resonated with her desire to make a difference in someone's life.

After months and months of testing, mismatches and frustrating dead ends, Holstrom was finally accepted as a donor for the rare triple swap.

Three of the six participants are stuck on dialysis and on a long waiting list for a kidney.

“All three have unusual cocktails of antibodies in their bloodstreams, and they will probably die before they can get off the list.”

But in a unique donor-matching program, “incompatible” donors and recipients are able to be matched using a combination of two methods pioneered at Johns Hopkins, making it possible for anyone to donate a kidney, regardless of their blood type.

Now fully recovered, Holstrom said she would do it again in a heartbeat.

“This has been a fabulous experience,” she said. Her recipient, a 46-year-old black male from Los Angeles, “has a new lease on life and I have a deep, new appreciation for my strength and fitness and the joy of physical freedom.”

Your local connection

Former Cadillac resident Karen Holstrom, the daughter of Coach Don and Beverly Johnson, donated a kidney to a complete stranger in a triple kidney transplant taped live by the Discovery Channel. That episode will premiere Thursday, Jan. 4, at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.

original story: http://www.cadillacnews.com/articles/2006/12/29/news/news04.txt
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[Sluff]

Sounds like an interesting segment on the discovery channel. I'm going to try an see this.

[Sluff]

This segment is now being advertised on TV.

[okarol]

I tivo'd this and will watch it later. A friend from kidney.org strongly suggested that I not
let Jenna watch it, at least for now. Sadly, two of the three receipients died in the end.
If you want to watch it, here is the info:

DISCOVERY CHANNEL

Jan 07, 2007 @06:00 PM (check local listings)

"Surgery Saved My Life"

episode: Triple Kidney Transplant

description:
Three pairs of complete strangers try to save each other's lives. Six Americans from all across the country
take part in a high-risk and high-stakes "triple kidney exchange" that could save - or end - the lives of three of them.

[Sluff]

I watched this show and came away from it with mixed feelings. Only 2 out of the 3 surgeries were successful.

[jbeany]

I thought it was pretty good.  The doctor in charge made a point of stressing that the two patients who passed had been ill for a very long time, and that they had complications that made the surgery very high risk for them.  He wanted more surgeries done sooner, before the patients were too ill to recover from the surgery.  The two patients who passed away were not eligible for the regular transplant list.

I thought the scariest part was when they quoted the statistic that 25% of all transplanted kidneys reject in the first two months.  I hadn't heard that before.  I can see being willing to risk the surgery even with such bad odds of success by myself, with a cadaver kidney, but I really have a hard time thinking about subjecting my sister to the stress of donation when the odds of my rejecting the kidney that soon are so high.

[okarol]

I just watched the show and I thought it was well done. The statement "25% of kidney recipients experience an accute
episode of rejection within 90 days" was daunting. Fortunately they are getting better at stopping rejections.

I never can watch open incisions and surgeries, but I had to look because I wanted to see what Jenna has to expect.
They hook the kidney up to the artery, and within minutes the ureter is squirting urine into the air - man, that was amazing!

Dr. Montgomery said - (well, I have to watch it again - but this is very close to being a quote) [patients that stay on dialysis will live
half as long as they would with a transplant] - which I never heard before. However, the patients on the program that died
had been on dialysis and survived, but both passed away within months of their transplant - so you have to take that into
consideration too!

[BigSky]

Survival depends all on how you are on dialysis.  If you are ok on dialysis then most will be ok with a transplant.  I did see they said acute was 25% in the first 90 days.  I think it is around 50-60% for the first year.   I experienced this with my first transplant within a week but they stopped it before even resorting to the "big time drugs"  that pretty much halt rejection in its tracks for most.