Lawrence County stranger's kidney a perfect matchBy Jerry Guo
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The generosity of a stranger has given a Beaver Falls diabetic her life back.
The two live in different counties, but just 15 minutes apart. Last Wednesday, in neighboring operating rooms, surgeons removed one of Robert Rice's two healthy kidneys and transplanted it into Colleen Ursida.
Rice, 37, of Taylor Township in Lawrence County, decided to donate one of his two healthy kidneys to someone who really needed it, even if he didn't know the person.
Ursida said that after finding out her eight siblings and parents weren't eligible donors, doctors told her to expect to wait two to six years for a kidney from the national transplant list.
"It was a one-in-a-million shot that I thought would never happen," she said. "At first, I couldn't understand why someone would give up a body part to a stranger."
Rice said he got the idea of donating a kidney "out of the blue" one day in February. He ran into a 50-year-old veteran who had lost both his limbs and was on dialysis for several months.
"I knew right then and there that I could help someone like him," Rice said.
Dr. Henkie Tan, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center surgeon who removed Rice's kidney for transplantation, said Rice was simply a "really, really nice guy."
"He was very enthusiastic and very interested. He just wanted to do a nice thing."
For Rice, the procedure took two hours using a high-tech non-invasive approach that makes a small incision and uses scopes. The kidney was cleaned and attached to Ursida in a neighboring operating room, which took five hours.
Dr. Ron Shapiro, the UPMC surgeon in charge of Ursida's surgery, said both patients left after only three days.
"They're both doing very well," he said. "And Colleen has perfect kidney function now."
Seventy-seven living donors in Pennsylvania have given kidneys so far this year; this is the second case in recent months involving complete strangers.
Lora Wilson, 47, of Churchill, who donated one of her kidneys to a stranger in November, said she doesn't even notice her missing kidney.
"I got so much more out of this than I gave," she said. "(The donor's) family was just so grateful and thrilled, and I didn't realize I would get a whole new family out of this whole thing."
A spokesman for the Center for Organ Recovery and Education said an average of three altruistic transplants are conducted in Pennsylvania each year. Only about 25 such donors step up in the United States each year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/s_514438.html...............
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