Transplant saga Thanksgiving week: another life saved at Scripps
- Christene Meyers
- Nov 22, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 13
BROTHER'S DONATION SAVES HIS SISTER'S LIFE AS WE CELEBRATE 30 MONTHS FROM OUR SCRIPPS TRANSPLANT
Emotions run high as a donor is wheeled Tuesday to surgery, to cheers balloons, whistles and applause from Scripps staffers. (patient's face is blurred to respect his privacy. )
STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS
PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER
and CM
WE THANK the gods every day that we are on the planet. This week's prelude to Thanksgiving offered another reason to count our blessings: an excellent check-up for Keller, 30 months post-transplant. Ours wasn't the only good news. On the day of our MRIs, CTs, bloodwork and doctor visits, another life was saved because of organ donation. We witnessed a small part of the miracle as the donor was wheeled down the hall to the transplantation theater to give a kidney to his ailing sister.
For me, organ donation plays a moving part in my personal scenario. Both my late husbands were organ donors. It comforted me after their passings that parts of them were helping others live. That my third partner's life was saved by a generous donor touches my heart, a full circle pleasure. So as Keller and I waited between tests and meetings, we reveled in a heartwarming scene at Scripps Green, "our" hospital, known for its cutting edge, compassionate, highly regarded transplantation program.
WE WERE MISTY eyed as the young donor was wheeled into the operating room, to cheers and fanfare of "the team" -- doctors, nurses, physicians' assistants, schedulers, receptionists -- that wonderful group of people we've come to know in our five years of "Scripps" loyalty. Both donor and his sister had successfully navigated weeks of testing so the surgery was a go.
That act of generosity is called a living organ donation. It means that some healthy person donates one of his kidneys or a portion of his liver to a loved one, a friend or someone in need. WE WERE LUCKY. We worked our way up the transplant list, over 18 long months. One's status on the list is the result of a complicated formula based on many factors. The wait was difficult but we still traveled, keeping close to home as we climbed the list. On May 13, 2017, at 10 p.m., we were called. Scripps had a donor. We were among three possible recipients called in; ours was the best match. In the early hours of May 14, "we" were transplanted. Many are not so fortunate.
Today, more than 110,000 people are awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant in the U.S., a fifth of them in California's transplant centers. One in three people on the list will die due to organ shortage. Our state is in the vanguard of transplantation, which makes the fact that we live 10 minutes from Scripps even more extraordinary. We've met people through my support group who move to San Diego to be near its fine doctors and modern, welcoming facilities.
OFTEN TRANSPLANT candidates wait years for an organ from a deceased donor while others don't live long enough to receive a transplant. Still others are removed from the list because they become too ill to undergo transplant. More than 20,000, or twenty per cent of the national total, are listed at California transplant centers. One in three of those waiting will die because of organ shortage. One of every 380 people is on a kidney transplant list.
IF YOU WANT to help, do check the donor box on your driver's license. And consider another way to help patients waiting for an organ. Scripps and other institutions offer a "living kidney donor program" allowing friends, family and those who wish to be anonymous to donate, sparing someone a long, uncertain wait for a deceased donor.
Only about 5,000 deceased-donor livers are available for transplant for 14,000-plus U.S. residents waiting. When a patient such as Keller receives a transplant, his entire liver is removed, then replaced by the donated liver. "Living liver" donor programs exist as the only option if a patient is too ill to wait for a deceased donor transplant.
ONE OF OUR favorite nurses gave part of his liver to his mother. The "living liver" surgery removes part of the donor's healthy liver and uses that to replace the recipient's diseased liver. Both donor and recipient livers grow to normal size, just as Keller's liver has adjusted.
Tears, anxiety and questions are part of the emotional transplant roller coaster. As our award-winning, compassionate Scripps hepatologist says, "We don't deny emotion, we embrace it, and integrate it into the process.'' We tip our hat to transplantation and the Scripps team for giving us that most precious commodity, time. For more information:
UP NEXT: Holiday shows abound and they're opening this week. Yes even in the land of palm trees and ocean breezes, it's beginning to look (and sound) a lot like Christmas. We take you to several of our favorite southern California holiday shows and recommend our favorites. Meanwhile,
remember to explore, learn and live and catch us each Friday for a fresh look at travel, the arts, celebrations, nature, family and more: whereiscookie.com
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