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JOAN W.
Bilateral kidney transplant
Jan. 30. 1970
I received a bilateral kidney transplant in 1970 and have had absolutely no
problems with them since them. \lv kidneys work just about as well now as when I
received them. The reason I received two was the inability at the time to
transport organs, meaning that the deceased donor and the waiting recipient had
to be in the same geographic area. I was the only match and the surgeon said it
hurt him too much to throw the second one away, although he was not sure that my
body could accommodate so much foreign material.
An annual check up discovered that I had high blood pressure. but treatment
could not control it. After nearly dying from the high blood pressure. the
kidney problem was diagnosed. and the transplant was performed at University
Hospital in San Antonio. There was no transplant department at the time, and the
chief of surgery who performed the transplant just had to do it!! Luckily, he
had done transplant surgery at University Hospital in Minnesota, where a large
number of our club members received their life-saving surgeries. All I know
about my donor is that he was a young man who had a fatal accident. but old
enough to be married because his wife gave consent. In those days they would not
give out more information, and I don't know what they have done with the
records.
My transplant gave me a second life. I celebrate two sets of birthdays--one I
owe to my parents, the second to my kidneys. I went back to a full time job
after recovering.
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