In last’s week’s blog, Organ Transplant – Making the List”, I shared Scott’s story about being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 9. By the age of 38, and with his kidneys beginning to fail, he was put on the national organ donation list. Here is the rest of his story.
Even though Scott had only been on the list for 2 months, a pancreas and kidney became available and Scott
got a call. When organs become available, there are many variables considered when selecting a recipient from the organ donation list, such as: how closely a patient profile matches the organ profile; how urgent the health situation is for the patient; and the logistics of getting the organ to the patient in time before it deteriorates.
A perfect match between a recipient profile and an organ profile is very rare, so when this happens, a person with less time on the list can leap ahead of others who have been on the list longer. Scott was fortunate to be a perfect match to the donor organ profile. When the call came, Scott immediately went to the hospital to begin preparation for the surgery.
Donated organs have a limited period of viability, so timing is critical in the transplant process. If the
recipient can not be reached or be ready within the time constraints, the organs will be used for the recipient with the next highest priority. The organs intended for Scott were taken, by courier, to the airport to be flown to Scott’s location. Scott was at the hospital being tested and prepared for the surgery. Everything looked like it was a “go.”
Unfortunately there was a delay at the airport as the courier and airport security personnel tried to determine whether it was safe to x-ray the containers carrying the organs. By the time the details were worked out, too much time had elapsed. The flight was missed and the pancreas, which has a shorter window of opportunity to be transplanted, was no longer viable. In a pancreas/kidney transplant, it is important that both organs be transplanted together to increase success. With the pancreas no longer viable, the doctors had to make a tough call, and the
still-viable kidney was sent to another recipient.
The surgeon came in with the news that the organs did not make the flight and that Scott would not be getting his transplant, as hoped. With his family gathered around him at the hospital, tears were shed at the realization that there was nothing to do but wait for another opportunity. There were no guarantees that he would get another
chance.
Life went on and Scott continued to focus on staying as healthy as he could. His diet and food intake were severely restricted while he continued dialysis 3 times a week. He had to juggle his work schedule to accommodate his increasing physical exhaustion, and he worked hard to keep a positive attitude.
Over a year later, as Scott typed the last sentence, in the last paragraph of a 2-year documentation
project he’d been working on, the phone rang. It was a voice he recognized, but not one he expected. The voice asked, “Scott, how are you feeling?” He knew immediately what that question meant. Just after midnight, Scott’s wait was over. He received a donated pancreas and kidney. They weren’t a perfect match, but they represented a new lease on life for Scott.
Today, Scott takes a variety of medicines and will continue to do so for the rest of his life to prevent his body from rejecting these life-saving organs. He has monthly blood tests and other lab work to monitor his health. Some
people would find this monitoring routine to be tiresome, but to Scott, it is a small price to pay for his miracle. Although Scott does not know the details of who gave him these organs, he feels an overwhelming amount of gratitude. Somewhere out there is a family that lost a loved one, and during this family’s struggle with grief, they made a decision that not only saved Scott, but potentially other recipients. They gave Scott the greatest gift of all… life.
Eighteen people on the list die everyday. If you are interested in learning more about organ donation and the transplant process, these links are a
good place to start:
- Donate Life America
- Healthfinder.gov
- MedlinePlus
- Organ Donor Overview
- OrganDonor.gov
- Teacher’s
Guide – Allocating Scarce Resources: The Case of Organ Transplantation - Womenshealth.gov Frequently Asked Question on Organ Donation and Transplantion
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