Health professionals urge blacks to consider becoming donors

Health professionals urge blacks to consider becoming donors

By Jimmy Mincin, jmincin@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: February 21, 2008

Paul Johnson is living proof that a little awareness can go a long way — sometimes, far enough to save a life.

In 1984, he received a life-saving kidney from a Pittsburgh firefighter killed on his way to duty. He’s never known the donor’s name or age, but as pastor of 18th Street Community Church, Altoona, he frequently makes a point of preaching about the man’s giving nature.

“He lived to save lives, and saved more when he died,” Johnson, 59, of Altoona said. “You just try and live a good life to show how grateful you are.”

Johnson’s family has a history of kidney disease. His father and two older brothers all died from complications stemming from kidney failure-related hypertension (high blood pressure). When his first transplanted kidney failed in 2003, he received another from his living niece in Ohio.

“You talk about a humble girl, she and her fiance put their wedding on hold until I was off of dialysis and she could donate her kidney to me,” he said. “What can you say about a niece who risks her life to save yours?”

Though there’s a higher rate of success among recipients who receive an organ from a donor within their own ethnicity, organ donations still can cross ethnic lines, Johnson said. And he’s living proof: He’s black and his first donor was Caucasian.

During Black History Month, health professionals including Dr. Jerry McCauley, transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, are shedding light on this fact — of the 50,000 patients waiting for a kidney transplant in the United States, 30 percent are black. The irony is that blacks are the least likely to donate, he said.

‘‘We know the waiting time for African Americans is about two times that of the general population. In the New York area, it can be even longer,” he said. ‘‘If you look at African Americans on dialysis, we represent about three times that of the regular population.”

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in blacks, according to the Bethesda, Md.-based National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearing-house. The prevalence of diabetes in blacks is much higher than in whites. Among those 40 to 74 years old, the rate is 11.2 percent for whites, compared with 18.2 percent for blacks. High blood pressure is the second leading cause of kidney failure among blacks, accounting for 34 percent of the new cases each year.

Healthy kidneys clean your blood by removing excess fluid, minerals and wastes, McCauley said. When kidneys are damaged, harmful wastes can build up in the body, blood pressure may rise and the body may retain excess fluid. Dialysis (an artificial replacement for lost kidney function) and transplantation are treatment options for failing kidneys, he added.

“Unfortunately, there’s a trend of myths repeated through the African American community about health care in general, and organ donation in particular,” said Holly Bulvony, director of corporate communications and public education for the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE), Pittsburgh. “We work hard to neutralize those myths and provide education.”

Bulvony cited past events like the Tuskegee experiments, in which 399 poor and mostly illiterate black sharecroppers in Tuskegee, Ala.,were denied treatment for syphilis between 1932 and 1972, as factors in why many blacks have turned a cynical eye toward organ donation. She also said many blacks believe that if a medical provider knows a patient is a designated organ donor, they won’t take the necessary steps to save their lives in cases of trauma and accidents.

“They think the doctor is overeager to donate the organ,” she said.

She sees the sign-up rate getting better, however.

Through targeted initiatives and educational campaigns, CORE has increased awareness and dispelled myths about organ donation among many blacks, and has designated every August as National Minority Donor Awareness Day, she said.

Johnson encourages blacks to sustain the gains they have made by continuing to designate themselves as organ donors on their driver’s licenses.

There are two ways to do it — sign up online at www.dot4.state.pa.us/od_services/odlogin.jsp, or check “yes” for organ and tissue donation when you get or renew your driver’s license, learner’s permit or photo ID. The words “Organ Donor” will be placed below the photo and in the computer record with PennDOT. There is no fee to place the organ donor designation on a driver’s license or photo ID.

‘‘You never know when you might be in need of one,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘That’s when we realize how great the organ transplant system is — sometimes it has to hit close to home.’’

Mirror Staff Writer Jimmy Mincin is at 946-7460.

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