WYLIEC - LIVING ORGAN DONOR

[grumpybob]

Hi;
Wondering if you got any info on this subject. A friend of Nan's husband need a liver transplant badly. He was at Strong Memorial this past Thursday with 1 person in front of him and the # 1 person received the transplant. His wife doesn't talk about it & even thou Nan is a RN it doesn't happen in Oswego Hospital, so she can't get any info from the Dr.'s there. We really feel bad for them as they have gone from doing well to where they are, in a very short time.

[wyliec]

Hi;
Wondering if you got any info on this subject. A friend of Nan's husband need a liver transplant badly. He was at Strong Memorial this past Thursday with 1 person in front of him and the # 1 person received the transplant. His wife doesn't talk about it & even thou Nan is a RN it doesn't happen in Oswego Hospital, so she can't get any info from the Dr.'s there. We really feel bad for them as they have gone from doing well to where they are, in a very short time.

We were at Strong this past Monday. It's my 30 y.o. daughter that was told a few years ago that her liver will eventually fail. Without going into too much detail, she's gotten worse in the past 6 months. Right now they have her on a course of steroids for an autoimmune disorder. She'll be back there in a few more weeks for some more testing.

But, to answer your question, the only info I got was the Strong Memorial brochure on Live Donor Liver Transplant. I called this past Tuesday and left a message for the Administrator of this program. I'm a little upset with the lack of response. The lack of response may be due to the fact that my daughter doesn't have the required score yet to be put on the list for a transplant.

One of the main questions I wanted to ask was if they allow live donors over what they have listed as the ideal age, because I'm past 55 the high end of the ideal age. I did find out a few years ago that even if the recipient has a live donor (match) they won't perform the transplant until the recipient makes the list. At that point, the recipient can be at the bottom of the list and still get the transplant immediately with a liver donor match.

Is there any specific info that might be on the brochure that you might want me to check?

[grumpybob]

We were at Strong this past Monday. It's my 30 y.o. daughter that was told a few years ago that her liver will eventually fail. Without going into too much detail, she's gotten worse in the past 6 months. Right now they have her on a course of steroids for an autoimmune disorder. She'll be back there in a few more weeks for some more testing.

But, to answer your question, the only info I got was the Strong Memorial brochure on Live Donor Liver Transplant. I called this past Tuesday and left a message for the Administrator of this program. I'm a little upset with the lack of response. The lack of response may be due to the fact that my daughter doesn't have the required score yet to be put on the list for a transplant.

One of the main questions I wanted to ask was if they allow live donors over what they have listed as the ideal age, because I'm past 55 the high end of the ideal age. I did find out a few years ago that even if the recipient has a live donor (match) they won't perform the transplant until the recipient makes the list. At that point, the recipient can be at the bottom of the list and still get the transplant immediately with a liver donor match.

Is there any specific info that might be on the brochure that you might want me to check?

Sorry to hear that your daughter has a liver problem. Hoping everything works out for her and you.

We are curious about the criteria for a match so one knows if they can be a donor to a specific person needing the transplant. Also the patients limitations to get a transplant, other health problems etc. Neither of these has come up in any conversations.

[wyliec]

Sorry to hear that your daughter has a liver problem. Hoping everything works out for her and you.

We are curious about the criteria for a match so one knows if they can be a donor to a specific person needing the transplant. Also the patients limitations to get a transplant, other health problems etc. Neither of these has come up in any conversations.

Here's the requirements for an ideal donor as stated on the brochure I picked up at Strong:

Between the ages of 18 and 55

Compatible blood type as recipient

A friend or family member with a close emotional relationship with the recipient

Similar size or larger than the recipient

In excellent medical, psychological health

Healthy body weight

Able to handle physical, emotional, and financial challenges of surgery

As for the recipient, they must first make the list as you know. The recipient must also be determined to be able to handle the rigors of surgery and recuperation. As an example, right now, my daughter would not qualify because of an autoimmune disorder that must be corrected.

There is a social worker that speaks to the recipient and asks many, many questions; one spoke to my daughter this past Monday. They want to make sure the recipient is psychologically stable with a stable home environment and to realize that they (the recipient) will need to be on anti rejection medication the rest of their life, requiring good health insurance; if I remember correctly, the president's care program won't cut it, per the social worker. Also, a number of questions to determine how supportive the family and/or friends will be. There was more, but I can't remember everything. With my daughter, they also got into who will take care of her children, in the event....................(you can fill in the blank).

[grumpybob]

Thanks for the info. It is very informative. I'm way to old to participate. Will pass this info on.

that your daughter does well, & you to if/when it happens.

[bruiser]

That is pretty much the same procedure for any transplant. My wife was not on the kidney list even though both of her kidneys totally failed. The reason was because there were people ahead of her waiting to get on the list. However, her brother was her donor so it was no problem because she found her own donor match. Her brother was 60 at the time of the transplant, so age can be waivered. The hospital that did the transplant covered all costs of the donor except travel and housing. Again, no problem. They also covered all costs of testing for my wife up until the time she was on the table and the initial cut was made. AR drugs are expensive. It's a bunch of crap that the so call affordable health care won't cover it. That's all I'll say about that.

[Bob Denman]

The same situation for my Missus...
She had a person willing to donate a kidney; they were compatible, and once they got through all of the hurdles (six Months worth... ); it was a gp!
She celebrated her eighth year with it, on the 23rd of January!

[bruiser]

Cool Bob. Kris will celebrate 7 years this July.

[shelbydave]

That is pretty much the same procedure for any transplant. My wife was not on the kidney list even though both of her kidneys totally failed. The reason was because there were people ahead of her waiting to get on the list. However, her brother was her donor so it was no problem because she found her own donor match. Her brother was 60 at the time of the transplant, so age can be waivered. The hospital that did the transplant covered all costs of the donor except travel and housing. Again, no problem. They also covered all costs of testing for my wife up until the time she was on the table and the initial cut was made. AR drugs are expensive. It's a bunch of crap that the so call affordable health care won't cover it. That's all I'll say about that.

The same situation for my Missus...
She had a person willing to donate a kidney; they were compatible, and once they got through all of the hurdles (six Months worth... ); it was a gp!
She celebrated her eighth year with it, on the 23rd of January!

Good to hear these stories. Our daughter got her kidney in August ON her 27th birthday!

[bruisersbaby]

Thought I would jump in here since I'm the kidney transplant recipient. I was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease in 1996. It was called Goodpastures that eventually converted to Wegener's Granulomotosis, with vasculitis. I was on massive amounts of Prednisone, oral chemo drugs, and many treatments of plasmapheresis. When my kidneys eventually were down to 15%, the doctors put me on dialysis, and WE (Bruiser and I) chose peritoneal dialysis, which I did every night at home. It was much better than going to a clinic 3 times a week for hemodialysis.

My big brother offered me a kidney, but I would not accept until I was assured that the Wegener's would not rear its ugly head ever again. I would not waste his kidney just to get off of dialysis. When I was assured this would not happen, we went with the transplant. As Bruiser has posted, the cost was 0 for my brother and only the operation itself was charged to our insurance.

There are many differences in hospitals as far as their procedures, costs, etc. If we had gone to another hospital in NC, both my brother and I would have been charged for all pre-tests, hospitalization and operating room. Research is most important, finding out which hospital is the best for transplant and follow-up.

I continue to put out the word to be an organ donor. I would not be here if it weren't for my Big Brother. I hope that all the problems stated above with the pending transplants are straightened out. God bless!

[grumpybob]

A friend of ours can't get on the Kidney transplant list because he is to heavy. Try as he may he hasn't lost enough weight yet.

[Bob Denman]

Cool Bob. Kris will celebrate 7 years this July.

And the same to you guys!!


I feel truly blessed that Kathy has been given all of this extra time... even if she DOES use it to annoy me!


(Yup! her name; out in the open...)