Three selfless acts, three lives saved by kidney donations

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Three selfless acts, three lives saved by kidney donations
Mercy's transplant coordinator calls successful procedures 'fantastic'
Dec. 6, 2013   |    Comments
 
Written by
Daniel P. Finney

Mercy's transplant coordinator calls successful procedures 'fantastic'

Dr. Cass Franklin, transplant coordinator at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, has a signature statement when something goes well, an exuberant exclamation of “Fantastic!”

Franklin made the joyous utterance Tuesday morning after he gently extracted the kidney of Dixie Roorda and held it tenderly in his hands.

The moment began a series of three kidney transplants, with each living donor giving an organ to someone he or she had never met.

Thursday, with both donors and recipients recovering, Franklin and a team of doctors and nurses involved in the transplant introduced donors to recipients at a news conference at the hospital.

And though Franklin refrained from using his catchphrase, the moment was absolutely fantastic.

The chain started with Roorda, a 61-year-old lunch lady from Pella, who decided she wanted to give a kidney because, she said, “I just wanted to help someone.”

Regina Sinclair, a 62-year-old Carlisle homemaker who had struggled with kidney problems since her early 20s, received Roorda’s donation. Mary Sinclair, Regina’s daughter, was tested to give one of her kidneys to her mom, but the match didn’t work out.

So with her mom getting a stranger’s kidney, she decided to donate hers.

Her kidney went to John Scuffham of Mason City, who had been on dialysis for four years. His wife, Debra Scuffham, was tested but did not match with her spouse. But she did match with Jonathan Cutchin of Clive, who had been on dialysis for two years.

They all met for the first time in a hospital conference room.

Tears flowed. Hands gripped. Laughter bubbled.

The overwhelming gratitude was palpable. Three selfless acts of generosity had saved three lives and forged a family of previously unconnected souls in blood and spirit.

“If I could stand, I would hug you,” a tearful Regina Sinclair told Roorda.

Roorda replied, “You don’t have to stand. I can stand for you.”

With that, Roorda rose from her wheelchair and embraced Regina Sinclair.

They sat together through a news conference, holding hands like lifelong sisters.

“Oh, thank you,” choked the weary voice of John Scuffham when he first laid eyes on Mary Sinclair, his donor.

Mary Sinclair inherited her mother’s wit and cheer.

She demurred at first, simply saying he was welcome, but quickly joked, “I didn’t even give you my best one.”

Jonathan Cutchin held hands with his donor, Debra Scuffham. His eyes were red, and his voice quivered.

But he let her know how much his life had already improved.

“I had an orange this morning,” Cutchin said. “It was the first orange I’d had in two years.”

There are many hard days at hospitals.

Doctors, nurses and staff lose patients despite their best efforts. Some are beyond treatment.

The days that make the years of study and scores of hours of work worth it are these rare moments when everybody lives, everybody thrives.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20131206/NEWS/312060120/Three-selfless-acts-three-lives-saved-by-kidney-donations