Astellas Ride of a Lifetime Contest

It’s time to submit entries for the 5th annual Astellas Ride of a Lifetime contest! Five transplant recipients will win a five-night trip for two to California to ride on the Donate Life float during the Rose Parade on January 1, 2010.

The contest is limited to liver, kidney and heart recipients currently taking Prograf. Entrants must be at least 13 years old. One winner per geographical region (Northeast, Southeast, Mid-America, Great Lakes and Western) will be selected.

To enter, recipients must submit an essay of no more than 500 words describing how their lives were transformed by transplantation. All entries must be accompanied by a photo of the entrant. For more information, or to submit your essay online, please visit the Astellas Ride of a Lifetime Web site.

Deadline is 11:59 p.m. EDT on July 31, 2009.

Astellas' Transplant Experience

Astellas, the manufacturer of Prograf, has created a Web site especially for kidney, heart and liver transplant patients. This Transplant Experience Web site has specialized pages for each type of patient offering advice on healthy living before and after transplantation, as well as a number of support resources.

According to the Web site, “Transplant Experience is a program that can help you get the most out of each day and help you be ready for what’s ahead.” If you are a kidney, heart or liver transplant patient, visit Transplant Experience and find tips to live a healthier, more active life throughout your transplant journey.

NFT Patient to Receive LVAD in July

NFT Patient, Lorna Jarms, needs a heart transplant to survive. After coming down with what she thought was a cold in 1998, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. Although medications treated her illness for many years, thetreatment has recently become ineffective, and she must undergo a heart transplant.

While waiting on her transplant, she will rely on the assistance of a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), which will act as a mechanical pump for her heart.

Read this article from the Cheney Free Press in Washington about Lorna and her experience waiting for this lifesaving procedure.

Letter from Daughter to Father

NFT patient Andy McGlauflin and his daughter are very close. Andy, a single father, considers Sarah “the light of his life,” and he hopes to spend many more years in her life. Below is an excerpt from a letter Sarah wrote to her father last year, while he was very ill in the hospital. Fortunately, Andy received his transplant this month, and is recovering well.


Hey Daddy,

In life, we fight to live, but live to die. I don’t quite understand it, but I have no need to question it. I figure, just let the good times roll as they come. Show me my lessons from my mistakes, reward me with laughter when I make the right choices and hinder me with tears when I need to be disciplined. Time in our bodies is limited, but our souls, if positive and maintained with good choices, will live forever.

You’re my best friend, my daddy, my own little angel.

I trust in God. I believe in what’s going on. My life has changed dramatically in the past 95 days, as has yours. But this life is so precious, too precious to give up on. If you’re strong enough to smile, then you’re strong enough to conquer anything. Love every minute of this life. I know it’s not exactly how we planned, but just trust and believe.

I’m scared of the transplant, but the only choice I have is to trust and believe…

I love you more than anything in the world. Don’t be scared. Take my hand. Trust and believe with me. You have a long way to go. God’s with you, and so am I.
Together, we can do this.

I love you,

Your little girl

St. Joseph Hospital in California Given Great Honor

The St. Joseph Hospital Kidney Transplant Center was recently named as an Anthem Blue Cross Center of Medical Excellence for Medical Transplantation. This honor is based on patient survival rates, patient education and safety initiatives, transplant programs' continuous quality improvement measures and four additional transplant program criteria.

According to data published by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, patients transplanted in the Southern California donation service area had a higher chance of getting a transplant quickly at St. Joseph Hospital than at nearly all of the other transplant centers in the service area. In addition, these patients required the shortest hospitalization after transplant in the state.

The St. Joseph Hospital Kidney Transplant Center has a history of tackling surgical and medical challenges, often accepting patients turned down by other centers. The transplant success and patient survival rates at St. Joseph Hospital, among the highest in the nation, are a testament to the expertise of our skilled surgeons and highly qualified staff.

Alexis Grace and NFT!

National Foundation for Transplants staff members attended the 13th Annual Gibson 5K to promote organ donation and the Transplant Challenge. While there, we were lucky enough to meet American Idol contestant and Memphian, Alexis Grace, whose father is in need of a heart transplant.

NFT Patients Who Received Transplants in May

We are thrilled for our patients who received lifesaving transplants last month!

• Marilyn Broach (lung) at Duke University Medical Center
• Dave Cabana (heart) at Duke University Medical Center
• Kenneth Caraballo (kidney) at Carolinas Medical Center
• Thomas Cassidy (lung) at Vanderbilt Medical Center
• Kathy Downey (liver) at University of Kansas Hospital
• Alice Myatt (kidney) at Duke University Medical Center
• Mikey Noble (kidney) at University of Colorado Hospital
• Herminia Sanchez (kidney) at Florida Hospital
• Michelle Wilkerson (bone marrow) at University of Chicago Hospital
• Lee Yon (kidney/pancreas) at Shands at the University of Florida

Although these patients have recently received their transplants, they still have a long road ahead of them financially. If you would like to make a donation in honor of an NFT patient, visit the National Foundation for Transplants Web site and search for a patient by clicking Patients We Help.

Successful Walk-a-Thon for NFT Patient!

Roy Glazer suffers from Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, a rare and incurable kidney disease. Doctors have told him a kidney transplant is his only hope for a second chance at life.

Thankfully, Roy's wife, Ellyn, is a match and is eager to donate one of her own kidneys to save her husband's life. However, before Roy can be listed for a transplant, he must raise significant funds.

Last month, volunteers held a 3-mile Walk-a-Thon in Roy's honor. Despite some rainy weather, the attendance was exceptional and more than $19,000 was raised in Roy's honor! We'll have more updates soon!

Check out some photos from the event below, and be sure to check out our Facebook page for even more photos!

Garage Sale to Benefit Transplant Patient

Paula Crawford needs a liver transplant to save her life. Read the following article in her hometown newspaper, The Oklahoman.

Sale to help defray cost of transplant for Norman woman

To learn more about Paula or to make a donation in her honor, visit the National Foundation for Transplants Web site.

June Patient of the Month: Baby Hannah

Baby Hannah's family faces $1 million in medical fees because of her rare liver condition.

When she was born, Hannah was very jaundiced. However, doctors in Trinidad and Tobago told Hannah’s mother this was common, and she should simply walk her out in the sun. After two months, Hannah was still jaundiced, and her mother was insistent that something was truly ailing her little girl.

After multiple tests, Hannah was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, a very rare liver condition affecting 1 in 20,000 children. Doctors told the new parents that a liver transplant was necessary for their child to survive. Her father donated a portion of his own liver for her first transplant in 2008. Soon after, Hannah began experiencing complications, and doctors discovered she had a blood clot. Within in the next month, she endured two additional surgeries because of clotting and a bile leak.

During the third surgery, doctors determined another liver transplant was necessary. Thankfully, she received her second liver transplant in March and is recovering well in Baltimore, where she and her mother have relocated to be near the transplant center at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Despite Hannah’s difficult journey thus far, she is a happy baby whose smile can brighten anyone’s day.

A liver transplant costs approximately $520,000. And that’s only the beginning. Because there is no pediatric hepatologist or gastroenterologist in Trinidad and Tobago who can help Hannah, she must continue to receive treatment in the United States. Hannah’s family currently owes $1 million for physicians’ fees, hospital costs, medications, labs, follow-up care, her feeding pump and more.

Can you help little Hannah and her family? To donate, visit Hannah's page on the National Foundation for Transplants Web site.