Saturday, Aug. 02, 2003 - 8:00 A.M.
We are so lucky to be alive in a time like this! After reading about the "three kidney transplant" that was performed:
Hopkins Doctors Perform First Triple Kidney Swap
BALTIMORE -- Johns Hopkins surgeons have performed what's believed to be the world's first "triple swap" kidney transplant operation. All six patients and donors are doing well and met Friday at the hospital for the first time since Monday's surgeries. A woman from Miami, a woman from Pittsburgh and a teenager from Maryland all had willing donors who weren't of a compatible blood or tissue type. Nurses with the hospital's "incompatible kidney program" made a match between the three pairs from a hospital database of about 60 pairs. In an 11-hour session of surgeries, doctors then successfully gave the three recipients healthy kidneys from people they didn't know. Nurse Janet Hiller said the odds of matching the patients and pulling off the surgery was "like hitting the lottery."
I agree! I need to remind myself daily that me being a 5 out of 6 antigen match for Richard was more than a stroke of "luck" and I would be a piggy oink-oink if I asked for anything else in this life.
I recall a saying that a coincidence is when G_d works a miracle and wants to remain anonymous. I believe that. I run into people in my everyday life that need to know what I didn't know back in January,2001 when kidney failure hit. And so, this is the "mission" of this diary and if I happen to entertain you along the way, fine. But my primary purpose is to spread the word that folks are dying because they need a kidney and you have two kidneys but you only need one so how about giving one away ?
