Locals give, receive life with kidney transplants

[okarol]

11/23/2007

Locals give, receive life with kidney transplants

By Autumn Lee
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer


While performing hair services for a client nearly two years ago, local hairdresser Margie Langenderfer made a decision to be a live donor and donate one of her own kidneys.

Langenderfer, 48, a Sylvania resident, said it was around Christmas when her client shared her story about her brother's problems with kidney failure.

“Without hesitating, I told her, ‘Put me on the list.' She looked at me like I had a ‘third eye.' In my heart, I knew it was going to work,” she said.

Langenderfer said she had first considered donating a kidney about 10 years ago for either a family member or friend if the situation presented itself.

No such circumstances did arise, as Langenderfer said she was blessed with a healthy family.

Langenderfer said when she learned she could thrive with one kidney, she said, “Why not [do this?]”

“Life goes on at a normal rate,” she said. “You don't need to be afraid [to donate.]”

Her initial testing for “cross matching” occurred in September 2006. Prior to medical staff shipping vials of her blood to UCLA for testing, Langenderfer said there were seven others ahead of her that had been tested trying to help her client's brother.

As Langenderfer went through testing to ensure her health would not be jeopardized in the transplant surgery, she said doctors found an anomaly—a splenic artery aneurysm that had since calcified over—which put a halt in the process. (Further testing proved it was not cancerous.)

As the condition of her client's brother worsened, his doctor ordered a new set of CAT scans for Langenderfer in April 2007 before proceeding with the transplant surgery, which took place on June 11, 2007, she said.

Although her client's brother wished to remain anonymous, Langenderfer said, “He has had no setbacks whatsoever. It's been such a blessing to share this with friends and family.”

In a little more than 20 years, Maumee resident Ernest Prado, 62, a retired mechanical engineer, experienced two kidney transplant surgeries. Prior to his first transplant surgery in October 1985, Prado said he had undergone dialysis for six years.

He said the process of dialysis frustrated him, so he learned to perform dialysis on himself for a few years.

His first kidney transplant, which was recovered from a deceased donor, lasted 19 years until it developed a slow growing cancer, Prado said. To prevent the cancer from spreading, his doctor removed it.

Prado said he had to go for dialysis for at least another year before receiving his second kidney transplant surgery, which occurred Dec. 28, 2005.

Before Prado underwent his organ removal surgery, his wife, Lisa, and her co-worker, Doug Boston, 43, a Toledo resident and Flower Hospital surgical nurse, donated blood to be used during the operation.

Boston said he overheard Lisa Prado talking about Earnest Prado's situation, and knew he was a blood match, but was not sure if he would be a tissue match.

When Prado ultimately learned Boston was willing to donate his kidney, he said his “jaw just about hit the floor.”

Boston said he had seen Prado just a couple times prior to making the decision, and did not view Prado as a “complete stranger,” but as a “future friend.” Before proceeding, Boston said he researched the process and talked to several doctors. After the transplant surgery, Boston said he was not placed on any diet restrictions or physical limitations.

In response to his decision to donate his kidney, Boston said, “I was just raised like that. My whole family is dedicated to service.”

Even at his job at Flower Hospital, he said he is “surrounded by inspiration.”

They both said they continue to stay in regular contact with each other. Prado and Boston completed Bike to the Bay more than five months after the surgery.

Later they went to Puerto Rico to celebrate their first anniversary of the transplant surgery, Boston said.
“There's hope out there for people with kidney disease,” he said.

Prado said the kidney transplants “have not aged” him. However, he does have to take anti-rejection medication.

Based on Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data found at http://organdonor.gov, nationally, there are 97,719 waiting list candidates as of Oct. 18, 16,757 transplants completed and 8,459 donors during the months of January through July 2007 as of Oct. 12.

According to data from the Life Connection of Ohio (LCO), a non-profit organization designated by the federal government to facilitate the transplant process:

- More than 73,000 of those on the National Transplant Waiting List is someone in need of a kidney.

- Approximately every 12 minutes another person is added to the National Transplant Waiting List.

- More than 1,600 Ohioans have their sight restored through cornea transplants, and more than 1 million people benefit from tissue transplants each year.

- A single donor may provide organs and tissues for more than 50 people in need.

Jeff Arrington, manager of recovery services of Toledo for LCO, said organs recovered from live donors are more controlled (as surgery can be planned) and the organ has little time outside the body as opposed to those recovered from deceased donors.

Arrington said those who choose to donate would not incur any added costs and can still have an open casket funeral. He also dismissed the notion of “bias.” (The LCO runs down the national list electronically.) According to LCO's Web site, the organization urges people to share their decision with family because “they will be consulted as part of the process which determines suitability for transplantation.”

Those who wish to become an organ donor may join the Ohio Donor Registry at www.donatelifeohio.org or at a local BMV.

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