Kidney Donation Tragedy

[okarol]

Kidney Donation Tragedy

Aug 31, 2007 04:12 PM
Jeanne Lacy

A Baton Rouge family is mourning the loss of a wife and a mother. They say it was a year ago this weekend they realized their loved one, Jeanne Lacy, was in desperate need of a kidney transplant. Even though they found a donor, the doctors wouldn't do the surgery because of how they got the kidney. WAFB's Cheryl Mercedes explains.

Her widow describes her as, "The mother, peacemaker, love of my life." Though it was some 37 years ago, John Lacy says he still remembers why he married his wife, Jeanne. He says she was his rock, and not just to him, but later to their two children and most everyone she met. Katie Lacy Fitzpatrick, Jeanne's daughter, says, "She was bright and lively, funny as all heck, corny, your typical teacher." Katie says her mother had too much to teach and she had so much to learn.

At the time of Jeanne's retirement party in 2005, she was teaching at three elementary schools and couldn't be happier. It was a kidney stone, Katie says, that kept her from furthering her career. She says she will never forget the first time she took her mother for dialysis treatment. She says, "I'm walking in there and I'm seeing all these people so sick in chairs, under thick quilts, dozing off and watching TV." In her mind, her mother was nothing like those folks. However, months later, things changed. Katie says, "The longer she went, the weaker she got. The longer the stays, the more I realized she belonged there."

After having her left kidney removed and undergoing dialysis, Katie says Jeanne was beginning to feel like her healthy, lively self again. In fact, she insisted on going to Florida for the family's annual vacation. That was on Labor Day a year ago. Katie calls that trip the ‘beginning of the end.' Katie says, "She blacked out for a good 10 seconds and it scared me to death. That's when I realized something was really wrong." Katie says when they returned home she began calling doctors and John began writing every newspaper and church he could, asking for someone to donate a kidney. John says, ‘We did what we had to because we knew if we waited, there were no promises."

Jeanne began feeling better at Christmas, but Katie and John say they knew it wouldn't be long before Jeanne's illness caught up with her. Four days later, she was in ICU. "Her speech was impaired, thinking was impaired. She was calling me different names." Jeanne's liver had failed. She marked her 57th birthday in the hospital. Katie says her mother never showed any signs of pain or suffering, but her body told a different story. "She had so many blisters, bumps and bruises."

Through the setbacks, there was still hope. 19 people answered John's cry for help, and six of them were a match. John says, "I saw joy in her and I thought we had life on the other end." That glimmer of hope quickly disappeared. Doctors got wind of an article written in the Southwest Journal and the Lacys were accused of soliciting an organ, which is illegal. John says, "I was very angry. There was so much red tape and I am trying to save my wife's life."

John began compiling letters from all those people who volunteered to donate and sent them to doctors in Houston. A month later, the doctors finally agreed to go ahead with the donation. By that time, it was too late. Jeanne wasn't well enough to receive the kidney. "Even when she told it was not going to happen, she still said, ‘I'm going to keep trying.'"

On March 9th, Jeanne lost her battle, but John and Katie say they are still at war with what happened. They don't blame the doctors and they say they don't plan on filing a lawsuit. Rather, they are making it their mission to let others know what happened to them, hoping to save other lives down the road. John says, "Don't take no for an answer. Fight for what's right, so you can have a kidney because they're out there." The Lacys want you to know about an organization called "Angel Flight." the group provides free transportation to hospitals for needy patients across the globe. For more information, call 888-4-AN-ANGEL.

Reporter:  Cheryl Mercedes, WAFB 9NEWS

http://www.wafb.com/global/story.asp?s=7013467&ClientType=Printable

[goofynina]

OH that is just awful, so sad    It doesnt say why the kids didnt donate (or even if they tested) 

[Black]

I assumed no one in the family was a match.

  When are doctors going to realize that just because they CAN make life and death decisions, they do not have the right to condemn someone to death because they do not like their behavior or the choices they made.  The time they wasted making the decision probably cost that woman her life.  I'm not as forgiving; I would have blamed them and would have sued.  Not for the $$$ but to let them and everyone else know that I do hold them responsible for the delay. 

I think it was someone on here that posted that the difference between God and a surgeon is that God knows he's not a surgeon.  I think it applies to too many doctors, not just surgeons. 

[goofynina]

One thing i never understood is if someone is willing to give a kidney, whether it be a relative, friend or a stranger,  why do they question it?  Why is how they got the kidney a big deal? If someone is willing to save the life of another, so be it, why all the red tape?