The joy of organ donation
While recently visiting our parents in Aurora, my sister and I came across your newspaper in a local grocery store. The headline “Wanted: Liver donors; Organ shortages lead patients to search for living donors, but doctors weigh ethical questions and medical risks” (Page 1, April 29) truly jumped off the page at us. After reading this discouraging, one-sided article, I felt not only compelled but obligated to respond by sharing our success story.
June 9 was the day I underwent a partial right-lobe hepatectomy at the University Of Colorado Hospital. My sister Nancy had been diagnosed with end-stage liver disease April 1, 2008. The news was devastating to us all. At that very moment, I knew what I had to do. No questions, no doubts. Nan had donated one of her kidneys to my youngest sister, Susan, in 1987, so our family had been down this road before.
The process began with a simple blood draw at the local hospital where I reside. Results were good — blood types matched, not a trace of hepatitis or any other component that could jeopardize my ability to be considered as a potential donor. The following month my husband and I traveled 50 miles to UCH for a two-day evaluation (which was completed in one day due to a spring blizzard typical in Colorado). We had done our homework. Our list of questions and concerns were in hand.
The transplant procedure was described in detail; benefits and potential risks were clearly laid out. Visual aids and photographs demonstrated what to expect.
A mere few weeks later we were informed that I would be accepted as a living liver donor for my sister.
We were all ecstatic. Of course Nan had concerns, but I assured her that nothing was going to deter me from this task. God has provided me with exceptional health for a 54-year-old woman and blessed me with an incredible husband and group of friends and co-workers who rallied around both me and my sister. I know in my heart that my God was with Nan and me throughout this entire process, protecting us both, sharpening the minds of each of our transplant teams and guiding the hands of the surgeons. I know there will be skeptics who will find this hard to believe, but because of my faith in God, I never experienced fear at any time throughout this entire process.
The procedure was flawless. After a few hours in the post anesthesia care unit, Nan moved up to the transplant floor and I spent the night in ICU, which is mandatory for all transplant donors.
Due to the epidural that was placed prior to surgery, I experienced relatively no pain and only mild discomfort in my ribcage. The following afternoon I was moved up to the transplant floor in a room next to my sister. I was sitting in a chair in less than 24 hours from surgery and walking the halls within 36 hours.
Our care was exceptional; every aspect of the entire process was positive. I was discharged from the hospital on the fifth day after surgery. Nan was discharged a few days later. Within eight weeks I was back to work; four months after transplant, my liver had regenerated to 76 percent of original volume. Presently I am extremely healthy and happy; the entire process is merely a most pleasant memory.
I can honestly say this has been the most fulfilling, rewarding Earthly experience of my life. I cannot imagine any other event that could ever surpass it.
To all the truly compassionate, altruistic people in this world who desire to give more than they receive, I would implore you to explore this wonderful gift that not only will save the life of another human being but ultimately benefit all of mankind.
— Lori Bretthauer, Loveland, Colo.
Allowing people to donate
Your recent article about living donors contradicted my experience with transplants, both as a donor and as a recipient. In 1987 I donated a kidney to my younger sister. While protocol for kidney donation was quite different at the time, I was never worried about what might occur with me, although I remember being told that the risks weren’t wholly different than any other major surgery.
There was about a 7-inch incision from the front side around to the back side that was called a “shark bite.” A rib was broken to get the kidney out, and in healing that is where the pain came from. Other than that, the operation was unremarkable. I healed well and quickly. I remember feeling on top of the world for being able to donate, and lucky that even though any one of us three sisters matched well enough to be the donor, I was a perfect match.
When it became clear to me that my only recourse for my liver disease was a transplant, I knew without a doubt that my sister would donate to me if at all possible. That is how we are as a family; that is how our parents raised us, to love each other as ourselves and to always take care of each other.
I know that we are blessed to have grown up in the family that we did with the guidance of two such wonderful people. We had lost two adult siblings to the complications of diabetes and none of us could go through that again.
I was concerned that my sister Lori, my donor, might have complications, but then I remembered how I felt being the donor for my sister Sue. Nobody, in any way, could have ever talked me out of it. I knew that Lori would save my life, and with the tremendously gifted surgeons, nurses, resident doctors and all of the support people at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver, I truly believe I could not have had a better outcome than I did.
June 9 will be the first anniversary of my transplant.
There is such a vast need for live donors, whether they are related or not. What do those people do who aren’t as blessed as I was? We know the answer to that and it should not be acceptable. They need another option.
Let those who want to give do so. It can only make us better people and give us a better world to live in. We have the ability to save so many lives; why aren’t we doing so?
— Nancy Pierce, Loveland, Colo.
