Published November 21, 2007 11:14 pm -
Holiday happiness
Kidney transplant a blessing for Ottumwa manBy MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer
OTTUMWA — An Ottumwa man has a few things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: He no longer has to go to dialysis, he has plenty of energy to live his life and, perhaps most importantly, someone from his own family cared enough to help him in a big way.
Hector Morales-Lozano, 26, has lived in Ottumwa for 12 years; nearly two of those years were spent with non-functioning kidneys after an infection damaged them.
Still, Morales-Lozano is not one to sit around doing nothing. Even suffering from the fatigue associated with kidney failure, he said his personality drove him to go on with his life, including the fun parts.
“If I stay home, I worry. Too many thoughts, you know? That’s why I do sports, like soccer,” he told the Courier Wednesday.
Morales-Lozano received a new, working kidney in September after surgery in the transplant unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
“Everything went as well or better than expected,” said Dr. Thomas Collins, Morales-Lozano’s transplant surgeon.
Part of the reason for that, he believes, is that Morales-Lozano found his own donor, someone who wanted to help.
“My sister-in-law gave it to me,” Morales-Lozano said. “It makes me feel good that she would do that for me.”
He said he questioned Julie Morales thoroughly about her decision. Was she sure she wanted to go through with such a thing? She was insistent.
“She was always seeing me after dialysis ... it made me tired and feel sad. She would say, ‘You look like you are dying, and I can do this.’”
A living donor is far better than a deceased one for lots of reasons, the surgeon said: The surgery can be scheduled for a certain date and time, whereas an accident victim who is an organ donor does not give any notice. That also means the kidney doesn’t have to spend much time outside of the body starving for blood. Instead of 24 hours without a blood supply, it’s more like one hour.
Not everyone qualifies to get a kidney, even with their own donor.
The patient on dialysis is referred to a transplant center, which evaluates each patient, explained Dr. Collins, after which the social worker, the surgeon, the financial specialist and the rest of the team either accept or deny putting them on the list. The process of evaluation is even more rigorous for the living donor, to make sure they are not just a match but that they are making the right decision.
Julie passed the test. His sister-in-law is doing well and is back at work.
“It’s like she gave me another life,” said Morales-Lozano. “Now, she’s my real sister; I love her. I have a piece of her in me.”
http://www.ottumwacourier.com/cnhi/ottumwadailycourier/homepage/local_story_325231428.html?keyword=leadpicturestory
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