September 5, 2009
New pancreas, kidney give surfer a new lifeHahn among transplant recipients at festival
BY SUSAN JENKS
FLORIDA TODAY
While others popped champagne corks and sang "Auld Lang Syne," Bill Hahn went under the knife.
"I like to joke that I was on the operating table for a whole year," said Hahn, who got a double transplant at the University of Florida's Shands Hospital on Dec. 31.
The procedure, which lasted more than five hours and stretched into New Year's Day, gave him a new pancreas and a new kidney, along with a life without diabetes, insulin shots and dialysis.
The boyish-looking Rockledge resident is thrilled.
"My transplant is a treatment that feels like a cure," said Hahn, 53, describing his rapid return to a lifestyle that includes running 20 miles a day on an elliptical cross-trainer and overseeing his 16-year-old health equipment business near the Melbourne Square mall.
This weekend, Hahn, a former professional surfer, will be one of a dozen successful transplant recipients attending the annual National Kidney Foundation of Florida's Surf Competition in Cocoa Beach. The five-day event began Thursday and ends Labor Day.
Diabetes diagnosis
Hahn was diagnosed with type I diabetes more than 30 years ago. Because his pancreas no longer produced insulin, his life depended on daily insulin shots.
In 2008, his diabetes led to kidney failure. Regular dialysis or a new kidney were his only options.
In hopes that a new pancreas might ease his diabetic symptoms, including vision problems, he chose to wait for a double transplant instead of just getting a new kidney.
It turned out to be a good decision.
Although the wait for suitable organs varies significantly by geographic region, doctors say patients can wait from two to five years for a cadaver kidney.
Hahn waited less than eight months.
"My kidneys lasted a long time, longer than I thought they would," said Hahn.
He attributed his shorter wait to strict criteria at Shands for the pancreatic half of his transplant. The hospital does not do pancreatic transplants on patients with type II diabetes, the most prevalent form of the disease in the U.S. Unlike type I diabetes, where insulin is missing, people with type II diabetes have impaired sensitivity to the hormone, but they still make it.
"Some centers will transplant patients with type II diabetes, but there is no consensus in the field right now," said Dr. Michael Casey, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine and a member of the renal transplant team at Shands. "Our belief is you are increasing the amount of insulin floating around in the body, but not curing the disease."
Donations surge
Hahn's vigor today is what this weekend's surf event is all about.
Twenty-five years ago, Rich Salick, community relations director for the National Kidney Foundation of Florida, started the annual surfing event with one of his brothers, shortly after getting the first of three kidney transplants. Back then, proceeds were so small, they could be hand-carried in a bag to a local dialysis center.
Over the years, the event has raised more than $5 million toward kidney disease research and helping transplant patients cope with post-surgical costs, said Salick, a former professional surfer and Rockledge resident.
The federal government, under Medicare, pays for kidney transplants, but the price of drugs to prevent the body's rejection of a new organ can be high. Salick estimates the cost for anti-rejection and other post-transplant drugs runs $12,000 to $15,000 annually. That's expensive, but far less than keeping patients on kidney dialysis indefinitely, he said.
Long-term dialysis carries health risks of its own and a poorer prognosis after transplantation.
"Dialysis is no friend to the cardiovascular system," Salick said.
The reasons are unclear.
"We think dialysis creates a chronic inflammatory state," wearing the kidneys down with time, Casey said. "But it could be exposure of the blood to dialysis. And, we also know dialysis does not replace the kidney perfectly and there may be toxins left behind in your body."
That reality is what lends urgency to advocates' appeals for more organ donors, either living donors for some organs or through indicating on a drivers licensee a willingness to donate after death.
Hahn, for one, does not know the name of his deceased donor, which is customary. And no one has contacted him, although he would like to thank the family some day.
In the meantime, he glanced around his home, filled with the photographs he's taken over the years amid signs of healthy outdoor activities, such as surfing and, of course, running.
"My love is living right now," he said, simply. "I'm happy with my life."
Contact Jenks at 242-3657 or sjenks@floridatoday.com.
Additional Facts
Transplants by the numbers
103,382 people in the U.S. are registered as transplant candidates for all organs.
86,079 are seeking new kidneys
2,298 await donors for a combined kidney/pancreas transplant.
There are 8 designated kidney transplant centers in Florida, including Florida Hospital in Orlando.
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