Erie man gives kidney to help save wife's life

Published: June 24. 2010 1:15AM
Erie man gives kidney to help save wife's life
By DAVID BRUCE
david.bruce@timesnews.com

The Honda Gold Wing motorcycle will remain in Byron Boehm's driveway for at least another week or two.

Once his and his wife's abdominal incisions heal, though, the couple plan to hit the road.

"We haven't ridden much lately because of the dialysis, but now we're planning on riding again soon," Byron Boehm said.

"I can't wait to ride again," said his wife, Marlene.

Both Boehms are recovering from kidney-transplant surgery. Byron Boehm donated a kidney May 11 at Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital, and his wife received a different one later that day.

The Erie couple participated in an eight-person kidney-transplant chain. It's a growing trend in transplants, said Ngoc Thai, M.D., director of Allegheny General's Center for Abdominal Transplants.

Surgeons prefer kidneys taken from a living donor because they often perform better than ones harvested from a brain-dead donor, Thai said.

"You get more bang for your buck," said Thai, who transplanted a kidney into Marlene Boehm. "You're getting a live kidney, ... and you move up the transplant list by participating in a chain."

Marlene Boehm, 60, didn't know anything about transplant chains. She just knew she needed a new kidney.

Her old ones were shot after a nearly 40-year battle with type 2 diabetes.

She almost died when her kidneys suddenly failed in May 2008, and she had been going to dialysis three times a week.

"I tolerated it better than others, but it takes a toll on you," Marlene Boehm said.

Dialysis keeps people alive when their kidneys fail, but it's no cure, Thai said.

"The process can be debilitating," Thai said. "You're talking about taking out your entire blood supply, filtering it and putting it back into your body. Your risk of heart problems increases when you're on dialysis, and it makes you more susceptible to infections."

But kidneys are difficult to find. The average recipient waits three to five years for a transplant.

Five years can seem like forever when you realize that people on dialysis have a 12 percent chance of dying each year, Thai said.

Marlene Boehm tolerated dialysis well, but when her doctors asked about a year ago if she would consider a transplant, she jumped at the chance.

"The longer you stay on dialysis, the more chance you have of developing a problem," she said. "Then you might not be able to get a transplant."

Byron Boehm wanted to give his kidney to her and was excited to learn that they shared the same blood type -- A positive.

But additional tests revealed that their kidney tissue types didn't match.

"I was very distressed over it," Byron Boehm said. "It was almost like I lost all hope."

That's when the Boehms learned about transplant chains. Allegheny General's transplant team told them Byron Boehm could donate a kidney to a stranger through a paradonor program, and his wife would receive someone else's in return.

Kidney transplants differ from most other organ transplants because people can donate a kidney and still live a normal life. Though most of us are born with two working kidneys, we need only one of them to filter our blood.

The National Kidney Registry is a New York state-based organization that works with Allegheny General and about 50 other hospitals across the United States. It has put together 142 kidney transplants, most of them in the past 12 months.

NKR uses state-of-the-art computer software to match donors and recipients and create transplant chains that help people get new kidneys sooner than they otherwise would, said Tom Mollo, NKR's executive director.

"It all starts with a good Samaritan donor who is willing to give a kidney to a stranger," Mollo said. "The largest chain we've done involved 13 transplants, 26 people."

Over the next year, NKR created a chain that included the Boehms, two people from the Harrisburg area, and donors and recipients from Chicago and Los Angeles.

The Boehms traveled to Allegheny General on May 11 for their surgeries. Byron Boehm had already gone through a battery of tests to ensure he was healthy enough to donate.

"I was very excited," he said. "I knew I was going to help get my wife's life back."

Byron Boehm's surgery was first.

Marlene Boehm had to wait for her new kidney to arrive from UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Surgeons removed one of Byron Boehm's kidneys and sent it to a recipient at Pinnacle Health System in Harrisburg.

Byron Boehm was then wheeled into his wife's pre-op waiting room.

"I told him that I loved him," Marlene Boehm said. "He looked good. It was good knowing that he was OK, and his eyes were open."

Marlene Boehm's kidney arrived by commercial airline at about 7 p.m. It had come from a 39-year-old woman.

The transplant went perfectly, Thai said.

"The kidney started making urine right away," Thai said.

The Boehms didn't see each other until the next day because neither could get out of bed. They gave each other progress reports by telephone.

"My recovery was a little slower than hers," Byron Boehm said. "She came into my room, and I could tell she was doing well. Her color was good. Her skin wasn't yellowish-gray, it was normal."

Receiving a new kidney has jump-started Marlene Boehm's life.

In addition to no longer needing dialysis, she has dropped about 20 pounds and said she has a lot more energy.

"The doctors are still fine-tuning my anti-rejection medication, but overall I feel great," Marlene Boehm said.

Byron Boehm also is recovering. He returned to work June 14 as a tool-and-die grinder.

"I probably could have gone back to work earlier if I had a desk job," he said.

Both Boehms have leaned on their faith during the entire process. Byron Boehm is an ordained evangelical minister and chaplain of Erie Blue Knights Chapter 18.

"We've been married 35 years, and I can't imagine life without him," Marlene Boehm said. "Knowing that someone loves you enough to give up a kidney is powerful."

DAVID BRUCE can be reached at 870-1736 or by e-mail.

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