I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on February 20, 2009, 11:28:04 AM
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Marion Barry to Get Kidney Transplant
D.C. Council member Marion Barry will undergo a kidney transplant tomorrow.
"He was admitted to Howard University Hospital this morning, and his surgery is scheduled for Friday," said Bernadette Tolson, Barry's chief of staff.
Dr. Clive O. Callender, chairman of the surgery department at Howard University Hospital and founder of the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP), will perform the procedure, Tolson said.
Tolson said he is receiving the kidney from a family friend. "He found his own donor for the kidney transplant," she said. The surgery was first reported by NBC4. Though other news outlets have reported that the donor is female, Tolson would not disclose any details.
Barry publicly revealed his kidney troubles last week to WUSA-TV (Channel 9) after federal prosecutors asked a judge to send the 72-year-old to jail for violating his 2006 probation for previous tax offenses because he failed to file his 2007 tax returns in a timely manner. The former mayor said his illness distracted him from filing his overdue taxes despite being threatened with jail.
-- Hamil R. Harris and Nikita Stewart
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2009/02/report_barry_to_get_kidney_tra.html
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Nice to see that they dont pass on the CRACKHEADS when handing our kidneys. :oops;
Does this mean he will go to jail as he should once the transplant is done with.
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Nice to see that they dont pass on the CRACKHEADS when handing our kidneys. :oops;
The kidney came from a "family friend."
8)
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What difference does it make that the donor is a female? Why is this news?
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why does the fact that he found his own donor make it okay? He is an admitted drug user, why does he get the surgeons valuable time? We have been told the Doctors do not want to waste their time with people who may abuse drugs in the future. So 'past' pot smoking is a big strike against us. Even though it was years ago. What- his crack abuse was like- 4 years ago?
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Now maybe he will pay his taxes on time!
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Barry Donor Embraced Chance to Aid Ailing Friend
By Nikita Stewart and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 22, 2009; C01
D.C. Council member Marion Barry was lighthearted about the gravity of his kidney failure when he asked friends whether they would be willing to donate an organ last year.
Faced with yet another health battle, Barry (D-Ward 8) jokingly asked friends gathered at the Channel Inn, a restaurant on the Southwest waterfront, "Would you give me a kidney?"
Kim Dickens, who has known Barry for more than a decade, responded, "I'll give you a kidney."
"Are you serious?" Barry, 72, asked, according to others who were present.
"The next day, she came to Howard University and was tested, and the next day she was told that it was a match, and she began to weep tears of joy. She is a very good friend," said Natalie Williams, a spokeswoman for Barry.
Yesterday, the former mayor and Dickens, 47, were recovering at Howard University Hospital, where doctors performed the seven-hour kidney transplant surgery Friday. Dickens was among four others who were tested to see whether they could be donors, Williams said.
Dickens has worked as a pharmaceutical representative and hosted a fundraiser for Barry's reelection last year. She declined requests for an interview yesterday but said she will appear at a news conference next week, Williams said.
Williams and the doctors at Howard appeared at the news conference yesterday. Barry, who had wanted to attend the conference, remained in intensive care yesterday morning, although doctors said his recovery from the surgery is on track. They removed Barry's breathing tube, hospital officials said, and he was expected to be moved to a regular room, possibly as soon as yesterday.
"Mr. Barry is fortunate enough to receive a second chance on life," said Clive O. Callender, who was in charge of Barry's surgical team and is the founder and director of Howard's transplant center.
Doctors described Barry as extremely ill during the months leading up to the surgery.
"In April of 2008, there was a decline in his kidney function, and we had a heart-to-heart talk," said Martin Dillard, Barry's nephrologist. "It reached a point where his kidneys no longer functioned, and he needed dialysis three times a week."
Barry publicly revealed his health problems more than a week ago, as federal prosecutors were asking a federal judge to jail him for failing to file his 2007 tax returns on time. Barry was sentenced to three years probation for previous tax troubles. The sentence expires next month. Barry has said his pending kidney transplant was a distraction to a timely filing. He has since filed the returns.
The controversial four-term mayor has garnered praise as a champion of the disadvantaged and scorn for drug use and continued tax problems. During his almost 40 years in politics, Barry has endured a gunshot wound and prostate cancer, and has lived with diabetes and hypertension -- health issues that he says probably contributed to his kidney failure.
Surgery for Barry and Dickens was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Dickens was operated on first, but the initial incision for Barry didn't take place until 5 p.m.
"The bottom line, he is up and about," Callender said. "Rejection can come early or it can come late, but we have given him those medications preventing rejection, so we are very hopeful."
Ron Harris, a spokesman for the university, said Barry spoke to several people by phone yesterday morning, including his minister and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).
More than 1,600 people in the region are awaiting kidney transplants, said Cindy Speas, director of community affairs for the Washington Regional Transplant Community. About 15 percent of all kidneys transplanted last year went to someone 65 or older, she said. In most cases, the donors died and donated their organs, but donations by friends are rising.
For the doctors at Howard, treating Barry has been an opportunity to promote organ transplants.
"We, as African Americans, are 13 percent of the population but 35 percent of the people on waiting lists for transplants. We are disproportionately affected," Callender said. "We need organs more than anybody else. And because of that, we need to become donors."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/21/AR2009022100665_pf.html
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Wow! Quick matching. It took about three weeks to find out my son was a match. I had gotten the call before we knew he matched.