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Handyman donates kidney after being helped out of homelessness

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A handyman was honored to donate his kidney and pay it forward after another member of the community helped him out in his time of need.

Dan Reynolds was hired to do some work six years ago when he was spotted standing in the snow at a bus stop in Maryland.

Doug Shumway decided to give him a ride on that cold winter day and invited Reynolds to do some contracting work and had him fix some plumbing issues.

It was then that Shumway learned that Reynolds had been living out of a van for the last two years.

When he revealed he was homeless, Shumway invited Reynolds to move in with him. It wasn’t long before Reynolds became a fixture in the community doing work for neighbors.

Read full story, here.

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Every Breath You Take: The Life of a Lung Transplant

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When you have Cystic Fibrosis – a genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections – a lung transplant can be a life-saving surgery. But what if you’re not sure you want it? And if you do get it, what new challenges will they present to your newly-extended life? 

Hear an audio documentary by Audacious Executive Producer Catie Talarski that follows two CF patients for one year as they grapple with the choice to pursue lung transplants. Then, she catches up with one of the subjects 10 years later.

Listen to it here.

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Former Panther Greg Olsen says donor match found for son to receive heart transplant: ‘A huge step’

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The 8-year-old son of former Carolina Panther Greg Olsen, who was born with a congenital heart defect, is set to receive a heart transplant.

Olsen tweeted Friday that there was a donor match for his son TJ.

“Day 8- Today is a day of mixed emotions. A day we have prayed for has arrived,” Olsen tweeted. “Walking our little boy, with tears of hope and fear in our eyes, was one of the toughest moments of our lives.”

“We ask for everyone’s prayers for TJ and his amazing team of doctors and nurses.” Olsen tweeted that TJ has a long road ahead of him but “this is a huge step forward.”

Olsen, the former Pro Bowl tight end for the Carolina Panthers, said TJ has had three open-heart surgeries and lived with a modified heart for eight years.

Read the full story, here.

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Prohibiting Discrimination in Organ Transplant Process Under Consideration by Committee

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“State Representative Bronna Kahle delivered testimony before the House Health Policy Committee in support of her legislation prohibiting discrimination in the organ transplant process.

Kahle said that House Bill 4762 ensures that anyone who performs an organ transplant may not refuse to transplant an organ into an individual based solely on the individual’s disability. Further, the bill prohibits lowering an individual’s priority on the organ transplant waiting list simply because they are disabled.

Even though federal law bans organ transplant discrimination based on the presence of a disability, Michigan does not currently prohibit an individual from being denied a transplant surgery solely based on their physical or mental disability.

The plan remains under consideration by the committee.”

Read more, here.

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Simple medical device improves care after kidney transplantation

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“A team from Lawson Health Research Institute (LHSC), in Ontario Canada, has found that a simple medical device can reduce swelling after kidney transplantation. The wearable geko™ device, manufactured by UK-based, Sky Medical Technology Ltd and distributed in Canada by Trudell Healthcare Solution Inc., is a small muscle pump activator that significantly increases blood flow via painless electrical pulses. Patients using the device following kidney transplantation experienced shorter hospital stays and reduced surgical site infections by nearly 60 per cent.”

Read more, here.

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Montrose man’s kidney is nearly 101 years old

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“Nearly every morning, Daniel Lane can be found drinking coffee at the Montrose Travel Center north of town.

“We go down there and talk about everybody,” said the 74-year-old Montrose resident. They cover politics, current events and the weather. Like him, the dozen or so guys he meets all have ranching and agricultural backgrounds.

On Thursdays, Lane goes to the Delta Sales Yard for the livestock sales and to visit with all the old cowboys. “It’s kind of in my blood,” the bachelor said.”

Read the full story, here.

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Transplant patients, some others with immune issues, stuck in limbo as country reopens

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Maria Hoffman feels as though she has been left behind. Her adopted hometown of Charleston, S.C., is hopping – with restaurants and bars fully open, park concerts in full swing and maskless friends reuniting with hugs on streets.

Hoffman, 39, is fully vaccinated and eager to rejoin the world. But as a kidney transplant patient, she is hesitant to participate for fear of becoming infected. “Risk is very different for people in my situation,” she said. “I am 100% acting like I am not immunized.”

The state worker is among millions of immunocompromised Americans, about 3 to 4% of the U.S. population, for whom the shots may not work fully, or at all, and who are unsure of their place in a country that is increasingly opening up. Emerging research shows that 15 to 80% of those with certain conditions, such as specific blood cancers or who have had organ transplants, are generating few antibodies.

Read the full story, here.

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WV man becomes oldest organ donor In U.S. history

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“The Center for Organ Recovery & Education announced Monday that it recovered the liver from the oldest recorded organ donor in U.S. history, 95-year-old Cecil F. Lockhart of Welch, West Virginia.

The record was confirmed by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), and the recipient of Lockhart’s gift, a woman in her 60s, is doing well.

Lockhart’s family said he was moved to become an organ donor following the death of his son, Stanley, in 2010, after which Stanley healed the lives of 75 people through tissue donation and restored sight to two others through cornea donation.

Read the full story, here.

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NKF Health Policy Director Becomes Living Donor During Donate Life Month

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While COVID-19 continues to dominant the United States healthcare system, nearly 100,000 Americans are still on a waitlist for a kidney transplant and each day 12 patients die waiting for a kidney. National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Health Policy Director Miriam Godwin knows these statistics all too well and made the altruistic decision to take action and help others by becoming a living donor during National Donate Life Month in April. Like all incredibly selfless living donors, Godwin made a conscious choice to help others, but please don’t call her a hero.

“It’s difficult to live with the knowledge that some of the most vulnerable people in our society such as the elderly, communities of color, and those with limited financial means are waiting for kidney transplants, especially when kidney patients have been at such exceptionally high risk from COVID-19,” said Miriam Godwin, NKF Health Policy Director and a kidney transplant living donor. “It’s my job to make kidney transplants more accessible, but the tools to create system-level change are limited and take time. No one should be denied the opportunity for kidney health because of the circumstances of their birth. I became a living donor because I knew I could help one person right now, so I did. It was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.”

Read the full story, here.

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Chicago 6th grader gets kidney donation from woman who works at his school

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“He had one kidney removed, but when the tumor kept coming back over the years, radiation treatments damaged his other kidney.

“It was pretty tough. I didn’t feel well,” he said. “I’d mostly go home and sit around.”

Ward Sexton said he and his wife Robyn set their sights on getting their son a new kidney and tried to find a donor.

“Robyn isn’t a blood match, I was ruled out, so we said, ‘We’ll ask friends,'” he said.

Last year, they wrote a letter asking those who may be interested to get a blood test to see if they were a match for Gavin. The email was forwarded and landed in the inbox of Ann Chiumino, who works in administration at Sacred Heart Academy, where Gavin is a student. The two did not know each other, but Chiumino said she felt the need to answer the call.”

Read the full story, here.

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